















(iiitss B S 5* 3'^ 

Book I ' 1 3 
DOBELL COLLECTION 













. 1 ^ ^^Pfur- ■• ^ ’T*w,.' 


^^*TV 

■ ■''k' 

/ ■ ' ■•• 

jt" 





. r* 

J/' 


W" 


': *■•" ’* ' o '®* :■'r'-^ '■’.v 







} 


‘- W •- 


< 


r 


» . t' 

■ I 






‘ ‘ f" 



. i ul 


V( •/ 




-■‘M • ■' 

r4PP : 'mlm 

■ ; Wks* 

..'■‘'‘''/W' .. -I'^ 


. i' 


M 



. 11 

!. ^ 


•|. 

’..H* V.' 


■ >. 


>* ( ■, 






,{.? * 

>■ :;''Vi#((u 


;« 


'■'m- 



i^tK^ ISjAi 

■f " 

,. T'l >■( 






o. J 
-4 ;j® 




* 


% 

••v 


■t 

R-> 


n »' 





%‘i ' ' 


V * . 



^ I 




.4^ 





y 





\ 







'0H. •.',- ■■: .MB 

I* ■.*/' i;■ y.:''.*'., . ;■;' * . 


• ■*•■- 


■ lU i ’) ■ I ••• ■'ti' _ .'.'\“ifj 


' • ■ ' If! ' ■/ ;v ■■» ' ' 


O.dl' 


t 


. i I 





LETTER TO DR. SPRY, 


IN VINDICATION OF 



CI)f JSSaorii of ©oil 


AGAINST 


EVERY SPECIES OF SCIENTIFIC OPPOSITION. 


) > 
> ) ) 


?t0nlian: 


PRINTED BY W. HUGHES, 
' (successor to MR. VALPY,) 
king’s head court, GOUGH SOUARE. 


MUCCCXXXIX. 






TO 


JOSEPH 


li I s 


HUME SPRY, M. D. 

ilcttcr 


IS ADDRESSED BY 


SINCERE FRIEND 

C. HOUSMAN, 


BATH. 


i. 



^ • 


« » 

I 

- ' hr 


.iici oT 


<■ KiUt^kDLUA^ f 


I 




.n .1/ t "tf ■ rtvifiS 1(1 !9 


/ f' • » 

-. S« 


*'■ p ^ 


t 3 M 7 .V- -^» 4 / 


I ■' 


*5 


1 * V 




‘Ai)>fih<■>'•■ ■" K yaav:>i 

t ^ .) A I •' • 


41 


%* :J 


•■* >■ 







’ * 'Minx T 

%r It V M :f * </’ V n a W ¥ it J ;v’i 

lt^^l. 'Wr •ifti.'M;’ .Ffiuyv.s uFi'I'i 

yijc>rx<vrm«r 





*' ;■ 


■ . 



: '■*■ 'v' 

* 

• 

vH 


^r. S' 


« m 4 L 


fir 





LETTER, &c. 


Dear Sir, 

You will doubtless recollect the agree¬ 
ment, that when the perusal of that elegant and 
interesting work, “ Forbes's Oriental Memoirs," 
was finished, I proposed to take up the pen, to 
acknowledge the receipt of, and return thanks 
for, your esteemed favour of the 28th December, 
1838. 

The favourable light in which you were pleased 
to view a certain Letter in the ‘‘ Antiquarian 
Miscellany " is very sensibly felt; and I am by 
no means less pleased with that peculiar tit-bit 
which formed the conclusion of your communi¬ 
cation, under the title of « bone to pick" This 

"A 


B 



2 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


I accept as a ti'eat, and shall have great pleasure 
in cooking it up to my own taste; as, no doubt, 
was the real intent of the donor, when he said— 
As I know you like a hit of a controversy, I have 
sent you a hone to pick.^^ 

First, a few words about the coin. You Irnve 
some doubts, it seems, as to the medal being 
either genuine, or of any great antiquity. There 
are, however, traits which in some degree favour 
its being so. First, there is at the bottom of the 
medal or coin, apparently, a sketch of the skeleton 
of a crocodile, —which is not only considered an 
emblem of Egypt, but also an emblem of the ark, 
and likewise of mourning, from the whining dole¬ 
ful noise that creature is so well known to make. 
Indeed, its Hebrew name is significant of doleful 
sounds; consequently, a fit object for the tomb, 
on account of those lamentations naturally arising 
from scenes attendant on such abodes. Secondly, 
in ancient times, when inscriptions were put on 
stone, or metal, I believe it was the practice to 
give the ('’) yod a larger form, so as not to 
be easily broken off or obliterated. Part of an 



V- 






f 









* 


»■ • 

w 






1 





I » 



y 

I 



ili i^.'.V .'<&/’' 


i/i., 







> V ■’ 







LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


3 


inscription, copied from one of the ancient tombs 
in Jerusalem by Dr. Clarke, convinces me of 
this. Now, if the two yods in the last Hebrew 
word on the coin be examined, they are evidently 
so ;—it was that lengthened appearance which 
caused me to conclude that the word meant 
Jehovah, or Lord. These united, viz., the sketch 
of the crocodile, and the lengthened yods, tend to 
favour a degree of antiquity. 

In the Rev. Vernon Harcourt’s work, entitled 
“ The Doctrine of the Deluge,” he, among the 
variety of things which his subject required him 
to touch upon, finds occasion to introduce 
Actceon, torn to pieces by his dogs. I will quote 
a few lines from that part of his subject in which 
he alludes to the crocodile. He says—Actaeon, 
who was torn to pieces by his dogs, is best ex¬ 
plained by supposing that he was put to death by 
the priests, for intruding upon the mysteries of 
Diana. There is even a tradition which ac¬ 
knowledges that he was torn to pieces, not by 
dogs, but by Bacchanalians in their orgies.^ 

^ Diodor. Sic. i. i. 80. 


4 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


Pausanias adds, that the Orchomenians were 
haunted by his apparition, bearing a huge rock, 
till they appeased him by funeral obsequies. 
Rock-worship, no doubt,” says he, “ had been 
the subject of dispute. In like manner it is 
stated that in Egypt, Menes, being pursued by 
his own dogs, fled to the lake Mceris, where a 
crocodile received him on his hack^ and carried 
him in safety to the opposite shore.” He then 
remarks—“ Now what is the meaning of this, 
but that a prince who had taken the name of 
Menes, and was therefore probably an Arkite, 
fled from the priests of a rival sect, and was re¬ 
ceived by his friends the Arkites, who naturally 
had their establishment upon the margin of the 
lake. It is worthy of remark, that the oracle of 
Ammon, and the temple of the sun, were on the 
western side of the lake : while on the other was 
Crocodilopolis.” And he further says, “ The 
crocodile was an emblem of the ark; and there¬ 
fore Varuna, the aquatic deity of the Hindoos, 
and one of the eight guardians of the world, is 
represented sitting on an animal, half fish, half 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


5 


.crocodile, shaped like a crescent by the elevation 
of the tail and head.” ^ 

The above, so far as the crocodile is concerned, 
casts a gleam of light on the purport of our 
medal: the crocodile, as being an emblem of the 
ark, i. e. chest, coffer, or cojffn, destined in the 
first instance to carry the Testimony of the Law, 
and in the latter, to carry a body, or a dead body, 
in safety to the opposite shore, —^intimating, as it 
were, with regard to the latter, —to the regions 
of eternity, is peculiarly applicable to the tene¬ 
ment in which the medal was said to have been 
found, viz. a sarcophagus or tomb. 

At the time when that Letter in the Miscellany 
was penned, the Rev. Vernon Harcourt’s work 
was still in the press; neither was I then aware 
of the enlarged Hebrew yods. These, united, 
seem to place the coin in a less dubious light. 
It may be but right to confess, that although my 
subject may have been kept in the Scriptural 
track, the interpretation is not quite correct; 
suffice it therefore to say, that it bears an im- 
2 Sir W. Jones, iii. 360, and vii. 260. 


6 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


portant sentence borrowed from Scripture, the 
insertion of which in this place would be incon¬ 
venient. It would require comments which 
would interfere with the present discourse; but 
perhaps at a future day, if health permit, an hour 
or two may he devoted to the purpose, merely to 
do justice to those who meditated the engraving. 

It is now time to notice the more important 
parts of my medical friend’s epistle ; for it cer¬ 
tainly appears to me, from the nature of the gift 
noted at the close of his communication, that it 
was evidently intended to excite some reply, in 
which I should advance an opinion as to what 
might mainly tend to remove the obloquy oV un- 
authenticity which it seems to be the fashion of 
some of the learned to attach to certain portions 
of the sacred records, and regarding which, Ezra 
stands prominently and principally concerned. 

Your epistle gives me to understand with 
respect to Ezra, that “ many of the old fathers 
supposed he recompiled the whole of the Scriptures 
from the Pentateuch—the originals having been 
destroyed in the conflagration of the Temple and 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


7 


City of Jerusalem by the king of Baby Ion. Like¬ 
wise, “ that many Biblical critics assert, that 
Ezra wrote out all the Scriptures in the Chaldaic 
character, ivhich alone was used and understood by 
the Jews after their captivity.'' And you then 
say,—“ These points have, however, been the sub¬ 
ject of great controversy." 

Such then, having been the case, I presume 
that even now the gates of controversy are still 
open, where defenders of the authenticity of the 
present characters of the ‘‘ Holy Book ” may 
enter, and plead in favour of the one, only. Holy 
Cause. 

Before I present what I have to advance, it 
may be proper to repeat the remainder of my 
respected correspondent’s epistle of the 28th of 
December last. I am there told, that ‘‘ Chapter 
viii. of Nehemiah relates circumstantially the fact 
of Ezra's solemn reading and exposition of the 
Law to the assembled Israelites, who, according to 
Dr. Prideaux, were taught the signification of the 
Hebrew words by means of Chaldaic interpreters; 
for, since their seventy years' captivity in Babylon, 


8 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


the Chaldee, instead of the Hebrew, had become 
their vernacular language: That the Israelites had 
ultimately lost their native language was proved by 
the fact, that in the time of our Saviour — Syriac, 
not Hebrew, was the language of the country, and 
the New Testament was written in Greek, which 
was the scientific language of the day, and well 
understood by Jews, Romans, and most other 
nations.'" 

The side that will be espoused by me is, no 
doubt, already anticipated by the gentleman 
whom I address; and I therefore delay not to 
declare, that 1 do not agree with Dr. Prideaux in 
his opinion that the people were taught the sig¬ 
nification of the Hebrew words by means of Chal- 
daic interpreters. Neither am I of opinion that 
the Israelites had ever ultimately lost their native 
language. 

Is it possible that a nation could lose all traces 
of its native tongue in the short space of seventy 
years ? For instance—suppose England’s people 
were banished to a foreign land ; would they not, 
as usual, converse with each other in their native 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


9 


. language for some time, at least, until they 
became masters of the foreign one ? and, even 
then, might they not retain their own along with 
the other ? Some of the latter part of their 
progeny might, perhaps, be a little defective in 
that point; but those born unto them in the 
early period of their banishment, and who might 
survive the seventy years, would, in all proba¬ 
bility, retain and teach it to their offspring. 
But still more especially would it be so among 
the Hebrews^ who hold their language to be so 
pre-eminently holy : it is natural to conclude, 
that at all events their learned men would retain 
and speak it in all its purity and correctness, and 
be masters of both tongues. 

With respect to the supposed change of letters 
by EzrOy and other important things connected 
with such change, I will quote from a book which 
now lays before me, entitled “ An Essay on the 
Originality and Permanency of the Biblical He¬ 
brew* By the Rev. Gerald Fitz-Geraldy D. D., 
and Professor of Hebrew in the University of 
Dublin. 1796.” 


10 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


In this work there is so much that bears 
upon our present subject, (as indeed its title 
imports,) that it even becomes difficult to select 
portions. But as the Doctor mentioned in my 
friend’s letter is also named in Chapter VI., I 
select that, and the VIIth, which afford pleasure 
in the transcribing, being in strict accordance 
with my own views on that all-important point— 
the authenticity of the present Biblical Hebrew. 


CHAP. VI. 

The Septuagint version made, not from a Samaritan, 
but a Jewish copy —a proof from Gen. iii. H ,—and 
from Matt. v. 18 .—Samaritan Characters — uncer¬ 
tainty of their origin—Palmyrene Inscriptions—Coins 
dag up in Judea—Arguments drawn from them chi¬ 
merical—Hebrew final letters. 

“The preceding remarks on Dr. Kennicott’s 
mode of reasoning are not meant to detract from 
whatever merit is due to his favourite Pentateuch, 
which I look upon as an ancient and venerable 
version from an Hebrew copy ; but more than 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


11 


.this we are not warranted to. allow. Were it of 
that high antiquity ascribed to it, and in its cha¬ 
racter the most ancient^ why, it may be asked, 
did not the Greek interpreters take their Sep- 
tuagint from it? This celebrated translation, 
which Dr. Kennicott himself has highly praised 
for the assistance it contributes ‘ toward cor¬ 
recting errors in the present Hebrew text ’ has 
been made—not from a Samaritan, but a Jewish 
copy, as is evident from several instances in 
which it differs from the latter—instances that 
could only arise from letters easily mistaken in 
the Hebrew, hut not in the Samaritan. 

‘‘ Among these. Genesis supplies us with one 
that is very remarkable, in ch. hi. v. 17, where 
we read in the Hebrew ‘ cursed is the ground for 
thy sake; ' but in the Septuagint ‘ cursed is the 
ground when thou tillest it f —the difference evi¬ 
dently arising from a mistake of resh for “t 
daleth, in the word hahabureka, which the 

interpreters must have read hahahodeka; 

{ev epjocsy &C.) 

“ Should the learned reader require other in- 



12 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


stances of this nature, I refer him to Hottinger’s 
‘ Exercitations against Morinus,’ p. 53, &c. to 
be convinced that the Septuagint was taken from 
a copy in the present Hebrew character ; and, as 
the Translators lived within one hundred and 
fifty years of the time when Ezra’s canon of the 
Old Testament was published,^ that copy must 
have been a genuine one—or, at least, what they 
believed to be genuine; and surely they were 
better judges of this matter than any other writers 
since their time. 

“ If it be said they were Jews, who would 
naturally prefer a Jewish to a Samaritan copy, 
even though they beheved the latter to be of 
greater excellence and antiquity; I reply, that 
surely our Saviour cannot be suspected of any 
prepossession of this sort: his parable of the 
good Samaritan, his conversation with the woman 
of Samaria, and other instances of the like na¬ 
ture, sufficiently exempt him from such a sus¬ 
picion ; yet he, and his Apostles, made use of 

^ “ Ezra’s canon is supposed to have been published about 
444 years before Christ. 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


13 


the Septuagint, and sometimes the Hebrew: 
‘ where the Hebrew was expressed properly in 
the Greek version, (says Dr. Kennicott,) they 
used the words of that version, and where that 
version was not proper, they translated for them¬ 
selves.’ Dissert, vol. ii. p. 347. 

“ But it does not appear that our Saviour ever 
used the Samaritan copy of the Law, or even 
alluded to it, as he has to the Jewish, in the 
following passage recorded by St. Matthew, 
(ch. V. 18.) ‘ Verily I say unto you, till Heaven 
and Earth pass away, one jot or one tittle (that 
is, one small letter, or curl of a letter,^) shall 
in no w^se pass from the Law till all be fulfilled.’ 

“ Though this be a proverbial expression, in¬ 
timating the permanency of the precepts of the 
Law, yet it plainly alludes to its writing and 
letters; and as the iwra or (*’) yod is the least of 
the Hebrew letters, the expression could have 
no respect to the Samaritan copy of the Law, 
in which language it is not the least letter, but 
(or) a large one. 

^ “ See Lightfoot’s Horse Hebraicse in Evan. Matt. cap. v. 18. 


14 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


‘‘ They who would trace this copy beyond the 
time of Ezra should show why some of the his¬ 
torical books were not also produced in the same 
character; for these, and the books of Solomon, 
must have been in the possession of the ten 
tribes, when they separated from the other two; 
this separation having arisen, not from religious 
but political considerations.® Why then did not 
the Samaritans, when they succeeded the ten 
tribes, possess themselves of these books as well 
as of the Pentateuch ? Will it be said, they were 
carried off by the Israelites, and dispersed with 
them in different parts of the world ? Then must 
it seem very extraordinary, that not one of these 
books should have ever since been recovered, 
except the Pentateuch alone, and even this was 
not known, nor heard of in these countries, until 

® “The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin adhered to the 
house of David, when the other ten revolted from Rehohoam, 
the son of Solomon, and chose Jeroboam for their king. 
Hence the division of the kingdom into two parts, known by 
the names of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, which hap¬ 
pened about one hundred and twenty years after its first 
establishment. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


15 


about 200 years ago, when, at the suggestion of 
Scaliger, Archbishop Usher and other patrons of 
learning ordered copies to be sought and pur¬ 
chased at Neapolis or Naplose, and other places, 
among the descendants of the Samaritans ; yet, 
notwithstanding the most diligent inquiry, no 
other manuscripts could be found but those of 
the Pentateuch which Peter k Valle and others 
brought with them into Europe.® May we not 
then fairly conclude upon the whole, that the 
Samaritans had no copy of the Law before 
the time of Ezra, and that their Pentateuch was 
taken from one of his copies by Manasseh in the 
manner already mentioned ? Why the whole 
code was not taken is easily accounted for :— 
The animosity that arose between them and the 
Jews, immediately after the return from the 
Babylonish captivity—the rivalship between their 
places of w^orship—Gerizim and Jerusalem—the 
celebrity of the latter, as recorded in the His¬ 
torical and Prophetical books of Scripture—and 
the praises of Mount Sion, so often mentioned in 
® “ Prid. Conn, part i. b. vi. p. 417, &c. 



16 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


the Psalms—these, and other considerations, re¬ 
proaching their present schismatical and former 
corrupt worship, necessarily prevented the adop¬ 
tion of such books ; and, indeed, the Samaritans 
could not, with any degree of propriety, receive 
them, without renouncing, at the same time, 
their ambition and resentment. 

“As to the characters or letters in which 
the Samaritan Pentateuch is written, their origin 
cannot be so easily traced; the probabiUty is, 
they were the same as those used in the Syrian 
or Chaldean provinces, from which the Cutheans 
and other colonies were transplanted into Samaria 
—that is, the old Phoenician or Canaanitish cha¬ 
racters, as is generally supposed. The letter 
written by the Samaritans to Artaxerxes, king of 
Persia, as mentioned in Ezra iv. 7, ‘ was written 
in the Syrian tongue; ’ which shows that they 
used this language above two hundred and fifty 
years after they came to Samaria; but, what 
dialect of it—^whether the Aramaean,- or that used 
in outer Syria—that of Palestine, or inner Syria 
—or the Nabathean used in the mountainous 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


17 


parts of Assyria, and the villages of Irak or 
Babylonia, is uncertain ; Gill supposes it to be 
the last.^ This diversity of dialects is a proof 
of the many changes which the ancient Syriac 
or Chaldee has undergone—changes that are 
confirmed, both as to language and letters, by 
the celebrated Palmyrene inscriptions—particu¬ 
larly those published by Gruter, from which two 
alphabetical tables were formed by Mr. Swinton. 
In these tables most of the letters have each a 
variety of different forms, and many of them a 
form so hke that of others, as renders it dif¬ 
ficult to distinguish them, or to frame any ra¬ 
tional conjecture of their antiquity.® Mr. Swinton 
supposes them to be the ancient Chaldee, the use 
of which prevailed at Tadmor and all the neigh¬ 
bouring parts of Syria, so late as the first, second, 
and third centuries after Christ. Dr. Kennicott 
considers them as in a sort of middle state be¬ 
tween the Samaritan and the Hebrew ^—Scaliger 

7 Dissert, p. 131. 

® “ Philos. Trans, vol. xlviii. p. 693 and 740. 

^ “ Dissert, vol. ii. p. 155. 

C 


18 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


as unknown letters—Gruter supposes they are 
Arabic—Cardinal Neris and Hyde confound them 
with the Phoenician; but the learned Abbe Bar- 
thelemy, who mentions this diversity of opinions, 
and who has himself formed more accurate al¬ 
phabets from the same Palmyrene inscriptions, 
thinks they are all in the Syriac or Chaldee: ‘ Nous 
connoissons ’ (says he) ‘ I’alphabet Palmyrenien, 
et nous savons qu’il est compose de vingt-deux 
elemens, ainsi que Tavoit observe St. Epiphane, 
dans son Traite contre les heresies. Le meme 
auteur paroit persuade que la langue de Palmyre 
ne differoit pas du Syriaque; et Reland, qui a 
connu ce passage, en rapporte un autre de 
Theoderet, ou il est dit que cette langue etoit en 
usage aux environs de TEuphrate. Ces te- 
moignages reunis sont confirmes par les inscrip¬ 
tions que nous avons entre les mains, et qui 
sont toutes en Syriaque ou Chaldeen.’ 

“ The difference observable between these 
Palmyrene characters, and the still greater dif¬ 
ference between them and the usual Syriac cha- 

“ L’Academic dcs Inscriptions, tom. xxvi. p. 588. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY, 


19 


racters. i -liich the versdons of the Old and 
New Tesiaient are written,^' should teach us 
not t j 1 inch stress upon arpiments drawn 
from ir.Mintions in favour of the oridn or 
priority ^ \ ay lanpiage or character whatever. 

“ Yet ta inscription on certain coins said to 
have I mr up in Judea is the main arpiment 
made t i y Prideaux, Walton, and others, to 
prove the c.maritan to be the true old Hebrew or 
orijrinal cnracter of the East, The words in- 

V 

scribed oi\ lese coins are—‘ Jerusalem the holv 
and the Sndel of Israel,’ The lettera, it is pre¬ 
sumed, araie Samaritan; and, as it canrK>t be 
sup]X)sed lat the Samaritans would have |vaid 
tliis com]ilne.nt to Jerusalem, with which they 
had nothin to do since the return of the Jews 
from cnpT.’ity, it is hence inferred that these 

coins muse nve been struck bv the Jew's, either 

« 

“ Tlu'se of a laU' daU', having been inmxhieed by the 
Christians of iUioch, who, in imitation of IVwiicl aiai Kzra, 
had used Hebrew square characters, but albcTWMxis 
changxxl them 'r those now in use, heesause they wvwiki havv* 
iiothiu<r in eomou with the Naxarenes or Khionites, Wat- 
ton's rVidci: . 3^17, 


20 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


before the captivity, or before the separation of 
the ten tribes; consequently, that the Samaritan 
letters, supposed to be the same with those on 
the coins, were the ancient Hebrew characters, 
in which the books of the Old Testament were 
originally written. 

‘‘ But the learned are now generally agreed 
that these coins are spurious—that, admitting 
them to be genuine, the letters are not the same 
with those of the Samaritan Pentateuch, as ap¬ 
pears from the plates given us of these coins— 
that, supposing them the same, nothing could 
thence be concluded in favour of so remote an 
antiquity as they are intended to prove ; for the 
oldest of these coins, as the dates on them show, 
do not precede the settlement of the high priest¬ 
hood in the Asmonean family,which happened 
above three hundred years after the return of the 
Jews from captivity, or about one hundred and 
fifty years before Christ. ‘ This single observa- 

“ See Bayer’s plates of these coins, the oldest of which he 
refers to Simon Maccabeus of the Asmonean family. Ch. ii. 
p. 62, &c. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


21 


tion,* as the authors of the Universal History 
have remarked,‘ renders all arguments drawn 
from these shekels perfectly chimerical.’ 

“ Inscriptions of this nature, however, serve to 
show the variations which many of the ancient 
oriental characters have undergone. These va¬ 
riations have been ascribed to the diversity of 
dialects occasioned by the confusion at Babel : 

‘ Neque literarum figurae (says Hermannus Hugo) 
ante coeperunt esse diversse qu^m diversitas 
idiomatum nata est in confusione Babel; nun- 
quam enim legimus unius alicujus linguae aut 
gentis hteras fuisse diversas, nisi forte capitales 
seu initiates, medias et finales ut apud Arabes; 
vel solas initiates et finales ut apud Hebraeos ; 
vel solas capitales ut apud Latinos; aut certe, 
quando gens aliqua in alterius venit potestatem, 
a qua cum legibus etiam literas acceperit.’ p. 42, 
&c. 

‘‘ As to the five letters here alluded to, which, 
at the end of words, assume another form in the 

“ See vol. xvi. b. iii. ch. 37, and the authors there 
quoted, p. 652. 


22 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


Hebrew, and are therefore called finals, they 
affect not in the least the question before us ; 
this will appear from the account given us by 
Dr. Kennicott of their origin and use. ‘ It is 
well known (says he) that the twenty-two He¬ 
brew letters express numbers as far as four 
hundred, and that the five remaining hundreds 
(under one thousand) are expressed by different 
forms, —and, as they are not in the least wanted 
to express words, and yet are used in the Bible, 
so may we conclude they were first introduced 
into the Bible for the purpose of numbers. This 
is the use made of them by the Jews in their own 
writings.’ Kenn. Dissert, vol. ii. p. 209.” 


CHAP. VII. 


The supposed change of Letters by Ezra unfounded — 
Credulity of St, Jerome—The Autograph of Moses — 
not the only book of the Law preserved by the Jews 
during their Captivity — Argument from Targums 
answered—no twofold character in use among the 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


23 


, Jeivs — Bruce*s Argument in favour of the Ethiopic — 
does not affect the Antiquity of the Hebrew—the 
Hebrew Alphabet the original or parent Alphabet — 
Summary of the foregoing arguments—collectively 
taken they demonstrate the originality and purity 
of the Biblical Hebrew — an objection from the 
points. 


“But objections to the present Hebrew letters 
have not been confined merely to a deviation from 
their original form; another, of a more general 
nature, has been also urged against their anti¬ 
quity ; for it has been said that Ezra and his 
companions of the great synagogue, when they 
formed a canon of the sacred books, had changed 
the old Hebrew characters for the Chaldean or 
square ones, as better known to the Jews who 
lived so long at Babylon. Resentment is also 
supposed to have had some share in this change, 
as they did not choose to make use of the same 
characters with the Samaritans, who had opposed 
the rebuilding of the Temple, and with whom 
they resolved to have no future intercourse: 
hence it has been inferred that the Samaritans 


24 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


have retained the old Hebrew characters, thus 
relinquished by Ezra, for the square ones now 
in use. 

“ In answer to this, it may be asked, in the 
first place, How does it appear that the square 
character was the Chaldean in the time of Ezra 
and the captivity ? Is it not much more probable 
that the Samaritan was the Chaldean, (or, making 
some allowance for the effects of time, that it 
nearly resembled it,) inasmuch as the Samari¬ 
tans were a colony of the Chaldeans, as has been 
already shown. Besides, it deserves conside¬ 
ration, that Daniel the Jew was a captive at this 
time, and wrote in the square character, if it be 
allowed that he wrote his own prophecies, which 
are handed down to us in this character ; and he 
it was who read the hand-writing on the wall that 
terrified Belshazzar: (Dan. ch. v.) This writing 
was not in the Chaldee characters, or those used 
in Chaldea or Babylon, for the Chaldeans could 
not read them ; but as Daniel, who was in Baby¬ 
lon at this time, read and interpreted them, it is 
evident they must have been those to which he 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


25 


had been accustomed before he came to Babylon ; 
that is, the Hebrew square character. 

“ This supposed change of letters by Ezra has 
been confidently asserted by St. Jerome and 
disproved by several of our ablest Hebreans and 
Rabbinists, who have shown it to be founded on 
a tradition of the Jews,—‘ and that (says Doctor 
Gill) far from being generally received by them.* 
Lightfoot, in his Horae Hebraicae, has stated under 
the article fila Kepala, on Matt. v. 18, the Rab¬ 
binical arguments in support of this change, and 
exposed their weakness, as being built upon 
tradition. And Hottinger condemns the credu- 
hty of Jerome for having so easily adopted it, 
in these words : ‘ Existimo igitur Hieronymum, 
quaecunque de Samaritanorum literis tradit et 
libris, ex auditione tantum, et incauta aliorum, 
Judaeorum praesertim, a quibus non rarb veris 
admixta accepit falsa, persuasione hausisse, ac 


“ Priiefat. Hieronymi de omnibus Libris Vet. Test.—^Vide 
Hieron. opera, studio Monachorum Sti. Benedicti. E Congreg. 
Sancti Mauri, tom. i. fol. p. 317. 


2G 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


proinde ejus hac de re testimonia ad veritatis et 
antiquitatis canonem examinanda.’^^ 

“If we would examine the matter, as this 
author has here justly remarked, not by hearsay 
evidence, but the standard of truth and antiquity, 
let us appeal to those authors who are the best 
qualified and the most likely to give us informa¬ 
tion on so remarkable a transaction. Of this de¬ 
scription are Philo and Josephus. Have they 
given us any information of a change of letters 
by Ezra ? Not the least: on the contrary, they 
boast of the invariableness of their sacred writ¬ 
ings, and the stability of their Law.^® Has Ezra 
himself, or any of the prophets ? Not the least, 
.though they relate matters of much less con¬ 
sequence. Is it probable that Ezra would have 
attempted so great an innovation ? or, if he at¬ 
tempted it, that he would be able to succeed ? 

“Exercit. ant. Morin, de Pentateucho Samar. Sec. 28. 
p. 53. 

16 « pLiio de Vita Mosis, 1. ii. p. 656. —Joseph, contra 
Apion. 1. i. Sect. 8. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


27 


Let these questions be answered by the prohibition 
respecting any alteration in their Law, (Deut. 
iv. 2 ;) and the guilt and meanness that must 
necessarily follow, should they forsake their own 
sacred character to adopt that of their enemies. 

“ Such are the strong, and, as they appear 
to me, irrefragable arguments against the change 
of letters imputed to Ezra. Others, however, 
of an opposite tendency, have been advanced, 
which it may be proper to take notice of. It 
has, in the first place, been asserted, that a long 
residence in Chaldea had so far precluded the 
use of the Hebrew letters that they were generally 
forgotten,' and superseded of necessity by those 
of Chaldea. To this I reply, that the Jews, who 
remembered the first Temple, and wept on their 
return (Ezra iii. 12.) at laying the foundation 
of the second, could not be supposed to have 
forgotten their language or letters, the greater 
part of them having been only fifty-two years 
there: or, admitting that the vulgar Jews had 

** The seventy years’ captivity, which Jeremiah predicted 
as the period of its duration, are to be reckoned from the 


28 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


forgotten both, the better sort retained them, 
and not only spoke but wrote the Hebrew after 
their return ; for certain it is that the prophets 
Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, wrote it in its 
purity, preserving the same roots, idioms, and 
terminations as are in the Pentateuch of Moses ; 
and it is no less certain that some of the Psalms, 
as the 126th and 137th, were written in Hebrew 
after the return from the Babylonish captivity. 

“ It has been also asserted, that not only the 
language was forgotten, but that the sacred books 
themselves had been burnt with the Temple, and 
restored by Divine inspiration—an assertion that 
scarcely deserves a serious answer, being founded 
on a passage in the apocryphal book of Esdras 
(ii. xiv. 21.)—a book of yery little authority, 
and, in this instance, clearly refuted by Nehe- 
miah, who relates (ch. viii. v. 2.) that Ezra read 
the book of the Law pubUcly before the people 
after their return. 

fourth of Jehoiakim’s reign, which corresponds with the first 
of Nebuchadnezzar’s—eighteen years before the Temple was 
destroyed and the Jews carried into captivity. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


29 


Indeed, in the corrupt and idolatrous reigns 
of the kings of Judah the sacred hooks are sup¬ 
posed to have been much neglected, and perhaps 
carelessly kept; at least it appears that in the 
time of Josiah, Hilkiah the priest found, at the 
cleansing of the Temple,^® a book of the Law of 
the Lord given by Moses, or, as it is in the 
Hebrew, by the hand —that is, according to Dr. 
Kennicott, in the hand-writing of Moses. ‘ For 
(says he) though there are fifteen places in the 
Old Testament which mention the words— Laiu 
of Moses and book of Moses^ yet this one place 
only mentions the book of the Law in the hand 
(or by the-hand) of Moses; the reason of which 
seems to be, that the other places speak of that 
Law in general, but this place speaks of one 
particular manuscript, namely, the original.’ 

“As to the point of age, he adds, ‘ This 
manuscript certainly might be the original, for 
the most extended chronology does not make the 

“ See 2nd book of Chron. xxxiv. 14. 2nd book of Kings 
xxii. 8—11. Prid. Connec. Part i. b. i. p. 45. Before Christ 
623 years. 


30 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


interval from the death of Moses to the death of 
Josiah nine hundred and fifty years—an age 
exceeded hy that of several manuscrij3ts pre¬ 
served at this day.’ Kenn. Dissert, vol. ii. 
p. 131—229. 

“It is highly probable, then, that this was 
the very autograph or original manuscript of 
Moses : but it by no means follows that this was 
the only book of the Law then extant; for every 
king was obliged to copy it on his accession to 
the throne, and every civile as well as religious 
regulation, was founded on it. Deut. xvii. 
18, 19. 

“ These considerations lead us to conclude 
that several authentic copies of the Law, perhaps 
this very autograph itself, were preserved during 
the captivity. Daniel refers to the Law as then 
existing, (ch. ix. v. 11—13;) and, if the sacred 
vessels of the Temple were carefully preserved 
at Babylon, may we not reasonably suppose that 
the authentic manuscript of the Hebrew Scrip¬ 
tures was also deposited there, and restored to 
Zerubbabel, or Ezra, on their return to Jerusalem ? 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


31 


Certain it is that, wherever or however pre¬ 
served, Ezra produced the Law, and read it to 
the people, as I have already mentioned, imme¬ 
diately after their return. 

“ But it is argued that the Chaldee Para¬ 
phrases, called Tar gums, or translations of the 
Hebrew Scriptures into that language, are an 
evidence of the necessity of such a change of the 
letters, as they originated about this time, having 
been made, as is supposed, for the benefit of 
those Jews who had forgotten the Hebrew after 
the captivity. 

“ To tliis it may be replied, that there is 
nothing in "the Scriptures themselves to authorize 
this account of the origin or design of these 
Targums,^^ except a passage in Nehemiah, wliicli 
runs literally thus : ‘ And they read in the book 
of the Law of God distinctly, and they gave the 
sense, and caused them (the people) to under¬ 
stand in the reading,’ (Nehemiah, ch. viii. v. 8;) 
that is, Ezra and the Levites, mentioned in the 

“ The two most ancient and authentic are those of On- 
kclos on the Law, and of Jonathan on the Prophets. 


32 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


verse immediately preceding, explained the dif¬ 
ficult places of Scripture, so as to adapt it to the 
understanding of the common people who stood 
by; but not a word here indicating a translation 
into Chaldee ; for the word mephorash, in 

the original, does not mean translatedy but ex¬ 
pounded; therefore what is said seems merely 
to refer to instruction in the Law, which was too 
carefully kept to be lost, and too much revered 
to be forgotten. (Ex. xiii. 9—16.) 

“ It has been also argued by those who would 
readily allow the second place in point of an¬ 
tiquity to the Hebrew alphabet, provided that 
some favourite one of their own was honoured 
with the first, that the Jews had a twofold 
character,—the one sacred, in which their Law 
was written, and the other adapted to common 
purposes. I cannot better illustrate this notion, 
and the use that has been made of it, than by 
quoting a passage on the subject from a late 
writer, who, in his travels to discover the source 
of the Nile,‘^^ affirms that the first alphabet was 

^ Bruce, vol. ii. p. 59 of the Dublin 8vo edition. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


33 


Ethiopic, and founded on Hieroglyphics, and that 
the common Ethiopic, or merchant’s writing, was 
the Hebrew sacred character, in which the copy 
of the Law was first written. This opinion he 
endeavours to support on the authority of a 
passage in the twenty-eighth chapter of Exodus, 
relative to the command given hy God to Moses 
concerning the breastplate of judgment, in these 
words : ‘ And the stones shall be with the names 
of the children of Israel—twelve, according to 
their names, like the engravings of a signet; ’ that 
is, says he, ‘ you shall not write in the way 
used till this day, for it leads the people into 
idolatry; you shall not type Judah by a lion, 
Zebulon by a ship, Issachar by an ass couching 
between two burdens; but, instead of writing by 
pictures, you shall take the other known hand— 
the merchant’s writing, which signifies sounds, 
not things ; write the names Judah—Zebulon— 
Issachar, &c. in the letters, such as the mer¬ 
chants use upon their signets.’ 

“ But this interpretation which favours the 
notion of a twofold character among the Jews, 

D 




34 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


however ingenious, is inadmissible ; for the mean¬ 
ing of the command, as Bishop Patrick has re¬ 
marked, is obviously this, that the letters to be 
written on Aai’on’s breastplate, like the engravings 
of a signet, should be protuberant, as they are 
upon coins, or upon wax impressed with a 
seal. 

“ And in the same manner, when God com¬ 
mands his own great name to be engraven on the 
golden plate of the mitre in these words, ‘ Holi¬ 
ness to the Lord,’ it is to show that Aaron was 
separated to the seiwice of the iVIost High, and 
therefore the letters, whatever they were, should 
be distinct and prominent; but in neither case 
does there seem to be the least allusion to any 
other characters, different from those in which 
the Law was first written by the finger of God. 

“ Our traveller’s argument, then, is of no force 
to invalidate the high antiquity and priority of the 
present Hebrew alphabet, which I have deduced 
from the significant structure of its letters, their 
names, number, and order, as preserved in so 
many parts of Scripture; and which I have also 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


35 


endeavoured to establish, by answering objections, 
and refuting the arguments that have been urged 
in favour of the Samaritan, whose claim to a 
competition is now generally acknowledged to 
be superior to that of the Arabic, Ethiopic, or 
anv other. 

V 

“ Its priority to the alphabets of other ancient 
languages—as the Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, &c. 
is allowed by most writers who have compared 
them,^^ and who, from their knowledge of the 
subject, were the best qualified to judge. In the 
Arabic alphabet it has been supposed that the 
shape of the letters was changed, and their order 
deranged, by the vanity of the Arabians, which 
prompted them to depart in these respects from 
the original, that their own language might be 
considered as independent on any other : and 

to the same principle has been attributed their 


“ See Pentaglot Lexicon of Schindler—Harraonic Gram, 
and Lex. of Hottinger and Castel—Hermannus Hugo de 
prima Scribendi Origine, cap. v. p. 62, and cap. vii. 
p. 65, &c. 

— “ GafFarellus’s unheard-of Curios, ch. xiii. s. 6. Her- 
inannus Hugo, c. v. p. 42. 


3G 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


addition of letters which the Hebrew alphabet 
never knew. One circumstance, however, they 
could not conceal—viz. that the names of several 
of them are evidently from the Hebrew, as are 
most of the letters of the Greek alphabet, from 
which the Romans and other European nations 
took theirs. 

“ From these observations, collectively con¬ 
sidered, I ventured to conclude that the Hebrew 
alphabet is the original or parent alphabet, and 
that this argument, united with the four former, 
is sufficient to demonstrate not only the priority, 
but the originality, of the language itself: for, if 
it appear, from the longevity and the names of the 
Patriarchs, to have been the language used before 
the flood—that it has been thence continued uni¬ 
formly down to the time of Moses, who received 
the Law in it from God himself—that the words 
of it express fully and forcibly the nature of the 
things signified—that its roots, however precise 
and limited in number, are yet copious and con¬ 
nected in their meaning—and its very letters ideal 
23 Walton’s 2nd Proleg. 12tli Sec. 






LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


37 


and significant,—then will it evidently follow that 
the Hebrew, as we have it at this day in our 
Bibles, was the first and original language of 
mankind. 

It only remains now to be considered, whether 
it has descended to us pure and uncorrupted : 
but, if what I have already remarked on the 
permanent nature of the letters be admitted, this 
part of my subject will require very little trouble 
to discuss. 

It is obvious, from experience, that the lan¬ 
guages of men who have a constant intercourse 
with foreigners are continually changing; the 
importation of new customs always introducing 
new words adapted to express them. Hence 
the languages of Greece and Rome were aug¬ 
mented in proportion as their intercourse with 
other states was increased; whereas the He¬ 
brews, whose religious institutions secluded them, 
in a great measure, from the rest of the world, 
preserved their language in its purity; and, as 
this had been committed to writing before any 
other language, and a standard fixed for it by the 


38 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


five books of Moses in particular, which, imme¬ 
diately after their composition, were de})osited in 
the Ark (1 Kings viii. 9. 2 Chron. v. 10.) and 
afterwards in the Temple, it was, thus far, pre¬ 
served with the most vigilant care, and secured 
from all those corrupt additions which had altered 
and debased the other languages of antiquity. 

“ That it suffered no change in passing from 
Moses to Malachi—through a space of more than 
a thousand or eleven hundred years,may he 
inferred from the similarity of style observable in 
the several books of the Old Testament,^^ except 
a few that were written about the time of the 

“ According to Dr. Kennicott, the whole canon of the 
Hebrew Bible was closed by Malachi, the latest of the Jewish 
])rophets, about fifty years after Ezra’s collection of the sacred 
books, composed before and during his time. And from 
Moses to Malachi, he remarks, are 1160 years (viz. from 
1580 to 420 B. c.), but, according to Usher, there are but 
1012. See Kennicott, vol. ii. of Dissert, p. 305, and his 
General Dissert, p. 6. 

‘ In veteri Testamento tanta est constantia, tanta con- 
venientia in copulatione literarum et constructione vocum, ut 
fere quis putare posset omnes illos libros eodem tempore, 
iisdem in locis, a diversis tanien auctoribus, esse conscriptos.’ 
Lcusd. Philol, lleb. p. 166, 4to. 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


39 


Babylonish captivity—such, for instance, as the 
prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel, written within 
this period; and the book of Ezra, which was 
written soon after it. Into the books of Ezekiel 
and Ezra, particularly, we may perceive that the 
Chaldaic or Syriac has been introduced; such 
places, however, have been distinguished by Bib¬ 
lical editors, and may be easily accounted for; 
ex. gr. part of the fourth chapter of Ezra, from 
the eighth verse to the end—the whole fifth 
chapter—eighteen verses of the sixth—and from 
the twelfth to the twenty-seventh verse of the 
seventh chapter, are written in this dialect: and 
the reason is obvious; for this part of his subject 
relating chiefly to letters and decrees written in 
the Chaldee, the sacred historian thought it 
])roper to use the very words of the original, 
especially as it was at this time familiar to the 
Jews, who had lately returned from captivity.^® 
‘‘ The second chapter of Daniel also, from the 
fourth verse to the end, and the succeeding 
chapters regularly to the end of the seventh, are 
2(1 .. I’rid. Conn, part i. b. iii. p. 129. 





40 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


written in the same dialect, as might naturally be 
expected from an author who had so long resided 
in Chaldea, and who treated of many particulars 
of the history of that nation. 

“ It is also remarkable, that the eleventh verse 
of the tenth chapter of Jeremiah is written in Chal¬ 
dee ; for, as it contains a profession of the faith of 
the Jews, the prophet, who at the commencement 
of the captivity held a correspondence with them 
by letters, thought it necessary to dictate to them 
the very words they should use to the Chaldeans, 
who would endeavour to entice them to idolatrv 

V 

—‘ Thus shall ye say unto them. The Gods that 
have not made the heavens and the earth, they 
shall perish,’ &c. 

“ The other parts of the sacred volume leave 
no room for suspecting any change, either as to 
language or letters; for such of them as were 
written before the captivity are in pure Hebrew, a 
few E(jyptian words in the Pentateuch excepted, 
which indicate, however, the affinity of both lan¬ 
guages ; as for instance, ahrec, (Gen. xli. 43.) 
from the Hebrew hubrec, (Infin. Hiph.) to 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


41 


‘ bow the knee,’ viz. to Joseph :—and 
Tzaphnath-Phaaneach, the name given him by 
Pharaoh (Gen. xli. 45.), when he ordered that 
high honour to be paid him. The first of 
these names comes, evidently, from the Hebrew 
tzaphan, to conceal; but the origin of the 
latter is not agreed on—some deriving it from 
phaan, considered as an Arabic word,^^ 
which signifies to open; while others will have it 
to be a Coptic, signifying things future. But 
Vitringa derives it from the Hebrew H-D phana, 
to behold or contemplate : —hence, one who 
contemplates things secret or occult, or, as others 
express it, a revealer of secrets, in allusion to 
Joseph’s interpretation of dreams. 

“ From these, and a few other such names 
mentioned by Moses, among which his oim has 
not been forgotten, the affinity of the ancient 
Egyptian language to the Hebrew has been in- 


Clerici Commen. in Gen, xli. 45. 

“ Robertson, Clavis Pent, in eundem locum. 
“ Vitring'. Observ. Sac. 1. i. p. 73. 



42 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


ferred ; and, as the latter, soon after the cap¬ 
tivity, ceased to be universally spoken, and was 
rather a written than a living language, it was 
not liable to change like the languages of other 
nations, which the interests of commerce, and 
the progress of arts and sciences, have variously 
mixed and connected with each other. Besides, 
no grammar having been made for the Hebrew 


“ This affinity is confirmed by other instances still more 
striking; for the name of the country itself— 

Mitzraim, is derived from matzur, a strong-hold, or 

fortification ; there being no place more indebted to nature for 
security than Egypt; and it is remarkable that, from its division 
into Upper and Lower, the name is used in the dual number. 
The Nile too, its most celebrated river, is called 
Nachal (Gen. xv. 18. and Num. xxxiv. 5.), which in Hebrew 
signifies a stream —a torrent, or valley through which a tor¬ 
rent runs; and, if we may credit Pomp. Mela (1. hi. c. 16.), 
the reputed source of the Nile is, by the Ethiopians, called 
Nuchal, which confirms this derivation. Vitringa remarks, 
that in the Phoenician and Egyptian languages it is called 
Neel—Nel or Niel, whence NeiXos. 

“ The first Hebrew grammar was written about the year 
900, by Saadias, surnamed Gaon, i. e. illustrious. He w’as 
master of the Jewish academy at Sora, near Babylon, and the 
first who translated the Pentateuch into Arabic. Keimicott’s 
Gen. Dissert, p. 19. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


43 


for many years after Malaehi, the last of the 
prophets who wrote in it, no alteration could have 
since taken place ; for, as it is difficult to write 
accurately in a dead language even with the helj) 
of a grammar, so it is impossible without one. 

“ Here it may perhaps be objected, that the 
vowel points are subject to variation, and have 
probably undergone many changes, before they 
were brought to their present state of perfection ; 
consequently, that these changes must have af¬ 
fected the language itself, of which the points 
are a part. 

“ To this I reply, that the points, in whatever 
light the present state of the language may place 
them, are yet neither an original nor an es¬ 
sential part of it; and therefore any alterations 
that might have been made in them could not 
affect the purity of the Hebrew, nor weaken the 
arguments advanced in its support. 

“ This will appear from a due consideration 
of the principle from which I have deduced, in 
my fifth argument, the originality of the Hebrew 
alj)habet. But, for the better understanding the 


44 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


application of this principle in the present case, 
I shall, first, briefly state the different opinions 
that have been entertained of the origin and 
antiquity of the Hebrew points.” 


Here ends the Vllth Chapter. With respect 
to that concerning the points, it is alike highly 
satisfactory and convincing in its luay with the 
preceding. It is rather too long to transcribe 
fully; neither do I wish to trespass too much 
on the valuable time of the gentleman whom I 
have the honour to address. I will, however, 
take three of final pages, from which an idea 
of the whole may be formed. 

The author, after giving the different opinions 
of Prideaux, Lightfoot, Demetrius, &c., on this 
head, goes on to prove that the points were neither 
essential nor necessary to the true reading of the 
Hebrew while the language was a living one. The 
period in which they were first used he deems 
unimportant: “ it is of no consequence to know,” 
says he, “ at what particular time they were in- 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


45 


vented, if it appear tliat they are not coeval 
with the letters, nor, consequently, an essential 
part of the Hebrew Scriptures. This I shall 
now proceed to demonstrate on the very same 
principle from which I have deduced the ori¬ 
ginality of the alphabet. 

“ I have already remarked that every letter, 
in its first formation, had a proper and significant 
name, and, consequently, a distinct meaning; 
and as such names were chosen as could best 
imprint the shape of each letter on the memory, 
from the resemblance it bore to the thing by 
which it was denominated, the proper sound 
could not be forgotten, nor, in its connexion with 
other letters, be mistaken, while the language 
was a living one—especially by those who had 
learned it from their infancy. Hence, one or 
more of the Hebrew letters might form as distinct 
a syllable at first, as they do now with the aid of 
the vowel points. Spiritus intus alit —that vital 
principle, to which the poet ascribes so much 
power, applies also to these letters, and accounts 
for their peculiar efficacy in this respect; ac- 




4() LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 

c'ordingly, grammarians have very properly di¬ 
vided them—not into consonants and vowels^ hut 
into radicals and serviles, and agreeably to their 
formation by the organs of speech. The serviles, 
indeed, have a softer pronunciation than the 
radicals, particularly the letters ehevi^ which 
some regard as the original vowels of the lan¬ 
guage ; but it should be remembered there are a 
multitude of words in which none of them occur, 
as "TpD 12^, &c. These it would be 
impossible to articulate, were the letters to be 
considered as mere consonants, like those of 
other languages.^^ But the principle I have 
mentioned, relative to the original signification 
of each, and to usage, while the language was 
a living one, sufficiently accounts for the true 
reading—not as determined by vowel-pronun- 

.32 truth of this remark may be more readily con¬ 

ceived, if we consider, for instance, how difficult, if not im¬ 
possible, it is for us to pronounce several of the German 
names, which we frequently meet with, from the number of 
consonants they contain, without more than, perhaps, a single 
intervening vowel to soften their asperity. Yet they who 
speak that language as their mother tongue find no difficulty 
in the pronunciation of such names. 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


47 


ciation, but propriety and sense. ‘ It is this/ 
says Dr. Bayly,'^^ ‘ which makes the Hebrew stand 
distinguished from every other language in the 
world, and affords a self-evident proof, that 
Moses, the prophets, and scribes, Avrote, not 
from tradition and common pronunciation, hut 
by divine direction, which alone could preserve 
the Hebrew, notwithstanding some few Chal- 
daisms, various readings, and apparent irregu¬ 
larities, so amazingly pure and uniform, from the 
time of Adam down to that of Malachi, amidst the 
confusion of tongues, the difference of dialects, 
and a seventy years’ captivity.’ 

“ Thus have 1 endeavoured to prove, from the 
history, nature, and principles of the Hebrew 
language, and particularly its alphabet, that it 
has unquestionable claims to originality and 
purity: and, as the connexion between the 
matter of the Hebrew Scriptures and the language 
that conveys it, is intimate, if not essential, the 
authenticity of the latter must have considerable 
weight in establishing the authenticity of the 

Xi Preface to his Hebrew Grammar, p. 28. 


48 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


former, and, consequently, in supporting the 
cause of Revelation and Religion.” 

The author closes his volume with a Hebrew 
Vocabulary, which he had previously men¬ 
tioned (p. 46). Speaking of the originality and 
permanency of the Hebrew tongue,” he says : 

“ And not only the proper, but the common, 
names or words of this venerable language, con¬ 
tribute to prove its originality, or, at least, its 
priority to any other. 

“ To illustrate this observation, I have selected 
and arranged such Hebrew words, as, I think, 
must readily suggest their derivatives in the 
Greek and Latin languages, and even in our own, 
from an obvious correspondence in sound and 
signification ; and I doubt not but the same 
correspondence might be traced between the He¬ 
brew and other languages, both ancient and mo¬ 
dern, should any one, competent to the under¬ 
taking, take the trouble of comparing them ; but 
as the vocabulary I have made might occasion too 
great an interruption in this part of my subject, 
I have placed it at the end of the Essay, for the 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


49 


sake of such of my readers as may have the 
curiosity to examine it. 

“ I am aware, however, this argument,” he 
adds, “ founded on a similarity of names, may 
be made, as it often has been, a subject of ridi¬ 
cule, and that Swift’s idea of tracing the old 
Trojan and Grecian names to the British Isles 
may be quoted on this occasion: but, though 
wit may wanton in such comparisons, it cannot 
make ridicule a test of truth, nor draw any infer¬ 
ence from words that have only some quaint re¬ 
semblance in sound, to the prejudice of others 
that have an evident connexion both in sound 
and sense, and whose affinity historical circum¬ 
stances enable us to account for.” 

He takes regularly every letter of the alphabet, 
and to each of them he gives derivations. A few 
will suffice to prove the truth of his statement: 


agar, to gather: hence the Greek ayeipco, Latin 
agger. 

ohel, a tent or tabernacle—Gr. av\r] —Latin aula — 
Eng. hall, 

E 


50 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


arah, to lie in wait, rob or spoil: hence Arahes or 
Arabs, the people so called. Tliese are the descendants 
of Ishmael, of whom it was prophesied that his hand - 
would be against every man, and every man’s hand 
against him. 

bo, to come, or go: Gr. ^Sao. 



to speak confusedly: Lat. 


balbus —Eng. babble —French babiller. 



gamal, a camel. Tliis name has passed not only 
into all the Eastern but into the Western languages. 
Thus in Arabic, it is gemal —Chaldee, gamal —Greek, 


KafirjXos —Latin, camelus. 


'Tl'l dur, to live or pass one’s life in a place. Lat. duro — 
Eng. endure. 


The above specimens, although but few, are 


sufficient to testify the truth of the late Mr. 
Solomon Bennett’s remark, viz. that the Hebrew 
language “ lendeth to all and horroweth of none.''* 
How far or in what way the transcriptions pre¬ 
sented in this epistle may impress the mind of 
the gentleman whom I address, I know not. For 
myself, I do not hesitate to confess my full con¬ 
viction that both Moses and the Prophets, as 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


.51 


they now stand in their present Biblical Hehreiv, 
are authentic^ and have known no change. It is 
likewise my opinion, that with minds not pre¬ 
viously prepossessed with the infallibility of that 
science which requires Scripture to be depreciated, 
in order to enlarge the boundary for speculative 
theories, Prideaux would have but few, if any, 
converts to his sentiments in the present instance. 
The case is widely different with those who are 
under the control and delusion of certain dogmas 
of science: their minds may be compared to 
fossil hones,—impervious to impression I 

It is almost needless to say, that on the present 
subject many a serious thought has been be¬ 
stowed, as its importance apparently demanded. 
In the execution of the task I rely on the following 
arguments : First, supposing the present Biblical 
Hebrew to be spurious and unauthentic, what is 
the result ? The answer is,—it removes the only 
foundation on which the New Testament stands, 
and, consequently, the Messiah becomes a dubious 
personage ! Secondly, I have borne in mind the 
repeated references of Jesus Christ both to Moses 



52 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 




and the Prophets as affording a criterion for in¬ 
struction, correction, and imitation, whereby not 
only the people of those days, but all future 
generations, might become acceptable to God, 
abiding by His Word, and abstaining from hy¬ 
pothetical DEVICES. And here it may be proper 
to inquire, how far these frequent references to 
the Old Testament serve to impress our minds 
with its genuineness and veracity. If Moses and 
the Prophets were not in their genuine garb when 
Christ referred to them, it would seemingly 
prove either ignorance or slyness on his part: 
the/ormer, if he did no^ know; the latter, if he 
did: for it would seem as though he flattered 
himself that the world would never be able to 
find out the egregious mistake I And thus the 
two failings which decidedly pertain to frail 
mortal man, we should pawn upon the Saviour of 
the world! 

That the Syriac, not the Hebrew, was the lan¬ 
guage of the country in the time of our Saviour, as 
your letter states, is doubtless true; and the 

correctness of your assertion, that the New 

%/ * 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


53 


Testament was written in Greek, and tliat Jeius, 
Bomans, and most other nations understood it, 
must be equally admitted. But these circum¬ 
stances do not in the least affect the complete 
understanding of the Hebrew language by our 
Saviour, although he did not generally speak it. 
Nay, it is quite impossible,—if he be, as his fol¬ 
lowers in their creed publicly make confession 
every Sabbath-day, “Very God of very 
God,’’ —that he could have been otherwise than 
a master of it; for the hand of Him, in con¬ 
junction with that of his heavenly Father, must 
have been with Moses when the Commandments 
were delivered in Hebrew. There are likewise 
other notable points. The last sentence uttered 
by Jesus when expiring on the cross was also 
in that language : that sentence, however, is not 
correctly translated in the New Testament: 
instead of Sabachthani, as we find it written, 
it ought to be Nazavthani. Then again, with 
respect to the restoration of the dead damsel; 
Jesus Christ gave the command to arise in He¬ 
brew. She was a daughter of the ruler of the 



54 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


Synagogue: he therefore spoke in the language 
used in the Jewish Synagogue. St. John also, 
when speaking of the superscription written on 
the cross, says—“ And the writing was JESUS 
OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE 
JEWS.” He then proceeds:—“This title then 
read many of the Jews: for the place where 
Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city : and 
it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and 
Latin.” 

The fact of this superscription having been 
written in three different languages proves that 
it was intended for three different societies of 
persons, who understood their mother tongue 
better than any other. It appears, therefore, 
that upon such an important occasion it was 
deemed indispensably necessary to announce it 
in the native tongue of those societies for whom 
the information was intended. 

When attention is drawn to such subjects as 
the above, a variety of thoughts obtrude on 
the mind ;—and the one which suggests itself 
at this moment is this: as Christ’s command to 





LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


55 


restore the dead to life was announced in the 
Hebrew tongue, it might be no irreverent idea 
to suppose that possibly the same may accompany 
the trumpefs awful sound when the dead (as we 
are taught to believe) shall arise at the future 
appointed day. 

It is thought by many of the pious, both Jews 
and Christians, that there will he a sort of partial 
resurrection at the restoration of the Jewish 
nation to their native land. This expectation is 
founded on some of those sublime passages which 
occur in the book of Isaiah. In a work entitled 
“ Dissertations on the Prophecies by I. King, 
Esq., the author alludes to this resurrection when 
speaking of the dead of his own nation^ quoting 
the words of the prophet, as follows: ‘ Awake, 
and sing, ye that dwell in the dust.’ “For they 
are not only (says he) to be brought to life, 
which the prophet calls awaking, but are to sing 
and shout aloud for joy, on account of beholding 
the salvation and redemption of the nation. But, 
as it is extremely difficult for man to form an 
idea of, or comprehend the nature of, the resur- 


/ 


56 LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 

rection, on account of the separation and con¬ 
version of matter and substance, (as will be seen 
presently by the philosophical objections made 
to it,^*^) the prophet, by a most beautiful image, 
informs us how it is to be effected,—‘ For thy 
dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
cast out the dead.’ ” The author then makes the 
following excellent observation, highly worthy 
of the interesting and awful subject: “ For as 
the dew lights on the earth and fertilizes it, so 
will the soul light on the original stamen, and 
re-animate it.” 

More, much more, might be advanced on the 
sublime solemnities which abound in the book of 
Isaiah; but, to vary the subject, I will select a 
few specimens from that elaborate and singular 
work, Wirgman^s “ Divarication of the New 
Testamentf the Preface to which extends to 
upwards of four hundred pages. Mr. Wirgman 
is doubtless a first-rate scientific author: his 

^ I decline quoting the philosophical discussion, which I 
consider as a labyrinth of perplexities iinsatisfactorv to a 
reasonable mind. 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


57 


plan is, that of separating the historical from 
the doctrinal part of Scripture. To give an 
idea of his opinion of history, a line or two 
from page 68 will suffice, where we read 
thus: “The difference between ‘ History’ and 
‘ Doctrine,’ with regard to its proofs, is per¬ 
fectly distinct. The former never can reach 
higher than possibility and probability; while 
the latter affords a conviction^ whose contrary 
is impossible.” 

Now, I know not what my medical friend’s 
opinion may be on this point; but mine is, that 
having obtained the doctrine of Jesus Christ 
through the medium of history, how can we be 
assured that he announced what is written of 
him, or even that he ever existed on earth, if 
history cannot go beyond possibility or proba¬ 
bility ? It is, however, to be remarked, that Mr. 
Wirgman, like all others of the scientific class, 
rejects and receives his own assertions, as the 
case requires. History is adopted when it suits 
his own views, and rejected when it interferes 
with what he is supporting at the moment. 


58 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


I will now give this author’s opinion with 
reference to the mode in which the Saviour 
obtained his precocious intellect, and which 
enabled him to compete with the doctors of the 
Jewish nation. He says— 

“ It is not difficult to account for the display 
of precocious intellect in the infant Christ in dis¬ 
puting with the Doctors in the Synagogue, when 
we reflect that he and his parents were sent to 
Eg}q)t to avoid the vengeance of Herod, under the 
peculiar charge of the wise men—who no doubt 
introduced his parents to the priests and literati 
of that land of science, which made a Pythagoras 
—as the promised Messiah. This alone would 
occasion his parents being initiated into all the 
Egyptian mysteries, which they could afterwards 
communicate to his expanding reason. No doubt 
this enabled the young Shiloh to compete with the 
learned Doctors of the Jewish nation. From this 
epoch we may therefore date the commencement 
of Christ’s ministry, when he began to unfold the 
Divine mission with which he was charged by 
Omnipotence—that of teaching the most perfect 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


System of Morals ’ ever offered to man. By a 
strict observance of these Divine commandments, 
we may hope to be conducted to the Throne of 
Grace, and rendered acceptable to our Maker.” 

In my humble opinion, no greater degrada¬ 
tion, no greater offence, can be offered to the 
Divinity of Christ, than by thus attributing his 
wisdom to the initiation of his parents in the 
school of the idolatrous priests of Egypt —that 
land of impure science ! We are taught to be¬ 
lieve, by the tenour of the Gospels, that the 
Saviour spoke according to the spirit of his 
heavenly Father; and Mr. Wirgman himself 
says—“ To depart from the Divine Doctrine of 
Christ is absolutely impossible for any rational 
creature.” To this we reply;—To believe that 
he received his Divine mission from that land 
where pillared suns—foundations of solar systems, 
(according to the late Sir William Drummond, 
who states that the Egyptians knew that the 
sun was stationaiy,” &c.)—where cats, apes, 
beetles, and serpents were worshipped as Gods, is, 
in my opinion, equally absolutely impossible for 





60 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


any rational creature to assent to. Besides, when 
we reflect that in consequence of various misde¬ 
meanours in the land of Egypt, the Almighty 
slew the first-horn of man and heast^ even in one 
night !—and also plunged their mighty host in 
the deep—the spirit of that land could not have 
been in unison with Jehovah’s. It is written, 

Try the spirits, whether they he of God.’^ The 
sublime prophet Isaiah, concerning that of 
Egypt, speaks thus :— 

‘‘Woe to the rebellious children, saith the 
Lord, that take counsel, but not of me ; and 
that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, 
that they may add sin to sin : That walk to go 
down into Egypt, and have not asked at my 
mouth ; to strengthen themselves in the strength 
of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your 
shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt 
your confusion.” 

Nothing, therefore, can be more unadvisable 
than that which Mr. Wirgman advances, in order 
to instil a “ hope to he conducted to the Throne of 




LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


61 


Grace, and rendered accessible to our Maker, 
through the medium of the spirit of Egypt. 

I will give my humble opinion as to the cause 
of this error. The author is far more deeply 
skilled in the lore of modern philosophy, and the 
depths of speculative science, than in that book, in 
which, according to the title of his book, he ought 
to have been a perfect adept: and he consequently 
frequently tells us, in the course of his work, 
that by “The Key of Science” ultimately all 
things will be revealed and made clear. I have 
given a specimen of the effects produced by 
unlocking with that fatal key ! For it unlocks 
with what’may be styled a reverse impression — 
having a peculiar twist given to its form, the 
invention of some scientific artist. It therefore 
only opens that chest, which is filled with de¬ 
preciations against the Word and the Works 
of the Sole Creator of all things! 

It has been the fashion of late to lecture and 
publish on “ the law of storms. This law is 
also noticed by Mr. Wirgman in his high scientific 
style. He says, “ Science guides our decision! 



G2 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


And what but the progressive advancement of 
REASON brings new sciences to light ? In less 
enlightened times it was customary to regard 
the storm as an expression of the anger of God, 
and its fatal effects as marking the vengeance of 
the Deity. Thanks to enlightenment, this pre¬ 
judice has entirely mouldered away; and science 
determines that the storm is an instinctive effort 
of each particle of matter to obey its original law, 
and thus, by restoring a disturbed equilibrium, 
forwards the grand scheme of nature—a perfect 
equation.” 

Here we have the audacity of science deter¬ 
mining that God no longer wields the storm when 
He pleases, but that it comes naturally and me¬ 
chanically ! 

When the great battle was fought, at the time 
when Joshua rescued Gibeon, it is related that 
the Lord cast down great stones from heaven,” 
and that “ they were more which died with hail¬ 
stones, than they whom the children of Israel 
slew with the sword.” 

. Is it not then very extraordinary, that a 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


63 


tremendous hailstorm should have happened 
at the very nick of time when God determined 
to annihilate that portion of the people who had 
given him offence ? How came those peculiar 
particles instinctively to know at what moment 
to strike the blow P But we see how, at every 
turn, it is the study of those who devote them¬ 
selves to science to ridicule the idea of standing 
in awe of God, or attributing to him the imme¬ 
diate superintendence over his works! 

Within the last few months Great Britain and 
Ireland have been visited with most tremendous 
and awful storms, both by sea and land, by which 
property and lives have been lost to a great 
extent. It then really seems to me to be te~ 
merit]! in the highest degree to pretend to give 
a law, or touch upon the subject by way of 
explanation! How can we be assured that- we 
may not thus give offence ? And, instead of 
thanking science for its enlightenment on this 
occasion, might it not more become us to pros¬ 
trate ourselves, and to pray that we may be 
forgiven ? 


G4 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


I have not yet exhibited a specimen of Wirg- 
man’s mode of arguing on the subject of the 
“ Trinity.’’ Indeed, it is rather a difficult 
matter to select a portion from that part of his 
work; for the pieces so run one into another, 
that, wherever I commence, there seems to be 
something wanting, in consequence of its being, 
as it were, a close continuation of the subject 
previously discussed; but I will take the fol¬ 
lowing passage:— 


“ ox THE TRIUNE PRINCIPLE, AS CONSTITUTING 
THE ESSENCE OF THE HUMAN MIND, EVINCED 
IN ITS THREE PRIMITIVE FACULTIES, SENSE, 
UNDERSTANDING, REASON. 

“We propose, now, to redeem our pledge of 
proving that the elements which form the notion 
of a Triune Essence are coeval with the 
Human Mind, and actually constitute its very 
essence; and that consequently the entire pro¬ 
cedure regarding the Holy Trinity will turn out 
as we predicted—merely a verbal dispute. For¬ 
tunately for humanity, our erroneous theories 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


65 


do not in the least alter either 'principles or facts, 
as they are originally created hy the Almighty ; 
or our insignificant globe would have long found 
itself the solid centre of entire creation. Provi¬ 
dence had so ordained it, that Copernicus should 
startle us on this physical point, and suddenly 
'whirl us about with incredible velocity; turning 
every thing topsy-turvy, alarming the prejudices 
of all the inhahitants of the earth, and en¬ 
dangering his own safety. Indeed, so inveterate 
were the pious servants of God on that occasion, 
that, had his life been prolonged, the Vicegerent 
of Christ would have placed this honest and 
sincere astronomer in the bonds of the In¬ 
quisition, to endure Earthly torture for the 
discovery of this Heavenly truth, which has made 
a complete revolution in science. 

“ The progress of enlightenment has since 
precluded the repetition of such barbarous pro¬ 
ceedings, with a view to promote the service of 
God. How much better to enlighten the 'mmd 
generally, and thus make man intimately ac- 


V 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


66 

quainted with himself; or, in the words of the 
poet: 


‘ That virtue only makes our bliss below, 

And all our knowledge is ourselves to know.' 

“We should then find that the confusion in 
our mode of viewing either principles or facts 
is the result of our own misunderstanding, which 
we ignorantly transfer to the objects. Perhaps 
the boldness of the attempt to discover in the 
‘ Sacred Volume ’ both the Word of God and 
the Word of Man may be equally stigmatized, 
and its author visited with indignities, as the tra- 
ducer of the only true ‘ Religion,' instead of its 
firmest champion. Be this as it may, neither 
rack nor torture can rob him of the purity of the 
motive; and he will find his reward, if not 
among men, most certainly where his heavenly 
Father has promised, in Heaven among 
angels. 

“We have proved, to the conviction of en¬ 
lightened REASON, that the divine mind must 
necessarily consist of three perfectly pure, simple 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


G7 


principles united in One ; or else there is no 
such thing—which is impossible! Let us see 
with what success we can now display the 
HUMAN MIND, as really consisting of the self¬ 
same triune principle. 

“ Nature can only be produced, as we have 
already shown, by means of sensation ; conse¬ 
quently, sensation arises from the impressions 
made upon the senses by objects distinct from 
the mind, and must always be accompanied with 
consciousness. Hence, sensation implies an al¬ 
teration in our state. Suppose, for instance, a 
placid lake, into which a stone is thrown—this 
instantly alters its state, producing concentric 
rings on its surface, and may well represent sen¬ 
sation, It is quite clear that sensation can exist 
only in the sentient being. Therefore, all ma¬ 
terial objects devoid of sensation are not con¬ 
scious of nature. In this first and primitive 
act, by which all nature is produced, the Triune 
Principle is apparent. First, there must be a 

Alluding to what he has endeavoured to prove by his 
arguments in the preceding pages. 


08 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


mind to receive the impression, which requires 
an object distinct from the mind, as its cause. 
Consequently, the very word sensation involves 
necessarily three elements, thus: 

Mind -f- Object + Impression = Sensation. 

“ It must be equally clear, that in order to 
receive impressions we must be passive; but to 
acknowledge their presence requires activity; and 
these two states in connexion constitute the mind 
—another necessary Trinity in Unity. Some 
sensations are extended, and others are successive; 
but, as neither of these can exist apart, they 
generate another Triad, &c. 

The above will suffice to show the style in 
which the author argues to prove the “Trinity 
IN Unity.” It requires, however, more copious 
quotations to give a complete idea of this sin¬ 
gular work, which, if health permit, I purpose 
doing at a future period. 

Mr. Wirgman shall have the credit he de¬ 
serves for the purity of his motive; and, with 
regard to that reward which is alike promised 
to all whose motives are pure, and offend not 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


69 


designedly^ no doubt it will be his. But at no 
rate can I make up my mind to believe that the 
reward will be given solely for applauding Coper- 
nicuSy whose only merit we have heard of consists 
in boldly dashing with incredible velocity against 
the sacred records; turning every thing therein 
topsy-turvy relative to the system of creation! 
It is inconsistent with Mr. Wirgman’s repeated 
epithets of ‘ Holy Boohy ‘ Holy Volume,"^ ‘ Holy 
Writ' ‘ Divine Revelation,' so incessantly used, 
to tell us, at the same time, that what that 
audacious individual Copernicus hath said — is 
Heavenly truth I The pious servants of God, it 
seems, were shocked at such profanations, as well 
they might he ; and laudable it would be, were 
their example followed in the present day, instead 
of enlisting under the banner of Deception. As 
to Providence having ordained that Copernicus 
should act as he did, it cannot be assented to, 
because it would rob him of his right to free- 
agency. The truth is, good and evil were set 
before him, and he chose the latter; therefore 
liis scheme can never promote the service of God. 



70 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


It is of little use that our author extends his 
work to nearly six hundred pages, in order to 
establish the pure doctrine of the Word of God, 
if we are to embrace the topsy-turvy scheme in 
which he trusts, which leaves not an atom ot the 
sort touching the system of creation ! 

When speaking of the Moral Law, Mr. Wirg- 
man observes :—“ Moral beings are amenable to 
the Moral Law, with regard to the purity of their 
motives, as physical beings are accountable to 
the Judicial Law for the quality of their actions. 
Christ expounds this chief moral law, by saying 
—‘ Do unto others as you would they should do 
unto you; ’ and every rational creature is bound 
to obey this commandment, or forfeit his claim 
to rationality. Conscience determines at once 
where we may venture to place ourselves on the 
scale of moral worthiness.” 

‘ Do unto others as you would they should 
do unto you ’ is certainly a most excellent 
commandment of Christ. But in the present 
state of the world it is rarely obeyed; for, 
what with the ferocity of nations against each 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


71 


other — their jarring politics, their wrangling 
about creeds, their upholding speculative science, 
and defending the honour of the mighty ones, 
viz. the kings and rulers of this world ,—the 
precepts and injunctions of “ the King of Kings 
and Lord of Lords are, as it were, banished from 
the land. He speaks of “ conscience,” and 
“ rationality.^^ Let us then bring “ conscience” 
to the bar of “ reason ” as regards the doc¬ 
trine of Christ —‘ Bo unto others as you would 
they should do unto you f —but with this differ¬ 
ence : instead of applying it to man with his 
fellow man, let us consider it as with God and 
the rational creature of his formation— Man. 
Then, suppose we say—‘ Do unto God as you 
would he should do unto you.^ Now it appears 
to me, that as we ardently hope for his gracious 
mercy at the final tribunal to forgive us our 
trespasses against Him, He hath a claim upon 
us; and that there is but one thing which we 
possibly can do, and that is, obey his law, and 
believe his word, which, according to the “ Holy 
Book,” will entitle us to a ])ortion of the ‘‘ tree 




72 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


of life^ It is highly necessary that all those 
who undertake the discussion of scriptural sub¬ 
jects, and particularly when any great alteration 
or modification is the object, similar to Mr. 
Wirgman’s design, should be well versed in the 
order of references, so as to be assured that, from 
the very first page of Holy Writ to the last of 
the Revelation of St. John, the whole is in 
the same spirit, —constantly referring to the same 
species of transgression, and as invariably re¬ 
ferring to that true system of creation which is 
evident to the senses. It is, as I have frequently 
observed to my friends, the touchstone by which 
the Deity hath chosen to try our faith ; and what 
I here assert with respect to this touchstone will 
be admitted by those who will take the trouble 
to make use of the proper key, the key of refe- 
rence —not the ‘ Key of Science,’ the unlocking 
of which leads into dark recesses ! 

Mr. Wirgman is doubtless a highly talented 
gentleman ; but his introduction and exaltation 
of Hypothesis, so as to stand on an equal footing 
with what we are taught to believe is of Inspi- 




LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


73 


ration, is not easily reconciled with his prepa¬ 
ration of the New Testament in such a man¬ 
ner as to silence all future controversies, and 
unite all sects in one opinion with regard to 
the ‘ Trinity in Unity ’ and other matters; 
particularly when w^e recollect that it is written 
—“ And every work shall be brought unto judg¬ 
ment, whether it be good or whether it be evil” 
It must then naturally occur to the mind, 
that speculative science is a work —a work, in 
fact, in the study and pursuit of which mankind 
more or less spend their lives; and, as before 
observed, the system of creation is the subject, 
more or less, from the first page of the ‘ Divine 
revelation ’ unto the last of St. John. How, 
then, can our opposing hypothetical work escape 
being brought unto judgment ? Lines, curves, 
circles and diagrams, portable orreries and upright 
ones, scales, calculating engines, fossil bones, and 
copper-plates of the strata of the earth, may 
serve in their various ways for an amusement in 
this ivorld; but the arguments founded^ on those 
articles, and the species of faith they instil into 



74 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


the mind, are of a very dubious character ; for 
how can we be assured hut that they may be 
considered by that Judge from whose decisions 
there can be no appeal—as meant to show forth 
His egregious mistakes, not only with reference 
to the principles on which the system of creation 
is founded, but likewise to the time expended in 
the formation of the earth! Numerous are the 
volumes which have been written, and various 
the lectures which have been delivered, on such 
subjects, tending to initiate the world in deceit 
and to implant in the mind a scorn for the tenour 
of scripture. 

Mr. Bahhage, in his work on “ The Decline 
of Science,^^ when speaking of “ the permanent 
impression of our words on the atmosphere says 
—“ The air itself is one vast library, on whose 
pages are for ever written all that man has said 
or ever woman whispered.” This, coming from 
the pen of a first-rate man of science, will of 
course have due weight; and, should it prove to 
he the case, as the author states, what a load of 
evil words will ascend into the ear of the Deity 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


on the score of speculative science ! It therefore 
appears to me to he of serious moment, and that 
we are called upon to reflect on that period of 
which the prophet Da7iiel so emphatically speaks, 
as seen in vision. He pronounces that “ the 
judgment was set and the books were opened ” &c. 
concerning which St. John likewise speaks more 
fully, saying—“ And I saw thrones, and they sat 
upon them, and judgment was given unto them : 
and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for 
the witness of Jesus, and the word of God.” He 
further says—“ And I saw the dead, small and 
great, stand ^before God; and the books were 
opened: and another book was opened, luhich is 
THE BOOK of life: and the dead ivere judged out 
of those things which were written in the books, 
according to their works.” 

May we not conclude, from these words, that 
sentence will he awarded according to our works ? 
It should also he home in mind that those awful 
announcements by St. John were written in the 
scientific language of the day, on which, in my 
correspondent’s letter, great stress is laid. As 



76 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


to Daniel, he completely demonstrates the total 
ignorance of the Chaldeans with respect to the 
Hebrew language. 

Another remark may here be necessary. Over 
the communion table in most of our Christian 
churches, we see the ten commandments; fre¬ 
quently with ?i finger pointing to those ordinances, 
seemingly to impress their veracity on the minds 
of the congregation, as well as to inform them 
whence they issued. Of these commandments, 
it must be recollected that the second is merely a 
continuation of the first ; and there we find a 
strict prohibition against erecting any likeness of 
the heavens. Perhaps it may be said. We do not 
bow down to our orrery. To this it may be 
answered. Our faith does, if not our knee. Nay, 
from hints contained in certain scientific works 
of the present day, the pleasures arising from 
speculative science are carried even so far as to 
create a craving and longing for such pursuits 
being permitted in the world to come! As an 
instance of this, I quote the following passages 
from Mr. Babbage’s work, entitled “ The Ninth 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


77 


Bridyewater Treatise Towards the conclusion 
ot the fourteenth chapter, under the head of 
“ Thoughts on the nature of future 'punishments f 
we thus read :— 

“ If we imagine the soul, in an after-stage of 
our existence, to be connected with a bodily 
organ of hearing so sensitive as to vibrate with 
motions of the air, even of infinitesimal force, 
and if it be still within the precincts of its ancient 
abode, all the accumulated words pronounced 
from the creation of mankind will fall at once 
upon that ear. Imagine, in addition, a power of 
directing the-attention of that organ entirely to 
any one class of those vibrations: then will the 
apparent confusion vanish at once; and the 
punished offender may hear still vibrating on 
his ear the very words uttered, perhaps, thou¬ 
sands of centuries before, which at once caused 
and registered his own condemnation. 

“ It seems, then, that either with improved 
faculties or with increased knowledge we could 
scarcely look back with any satisfaction on our 
past lives;—that to the major part of our race 



78 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


oblivion would be the greatest boon. But if, in a 
future state, we could turn from the contemplation 
of our own imperfections, and with increased 
powers apply our minds to the discovery of 
nature's laws, and to the invention of new 
methods by which our faculties might be aided 
in research, pleasure the most unalloyed would 
await us at every stage of our progress. Un¬ 
clogged by the dull corporeal load of matter 
which tyrannizes even over our most intellectual 
moments, and chains the ardent spirit to its 
kindred clay, we should advance in the pursuit, 
stimulated instead of wearied by our past ex¬ 
ertions, and encountering each new difficulty in 
the inquiry with the accumulated power derived 
from the experience of the past, and the irre¬ 
sistible energy resulting from the confidence of 
ultimate success." 

One would really suppose, from the tenour 
of these passages,—the one half of which is de¬ 
voted to the fancied ecstasies of delight to be 
enjoyed in the world to come,—were we permitted 
to apply our minds to the investigation of the 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


79 


Newtonian hypothesis of the system of Baal, 
the sun, that even heaven itself would be in¬ 
sipid, if deprived of our researches in speculative 
science ! There would be one advantage in such 
a speculation, viz. the Spirit of the Master would 
be there, i. e. Newton !—and the Spirit of his 
Master, who made the Works, would be there. 
But might not that Almighty Master be indignant 
at the spirit of man bringing face to face with 
Him their topsy-turvy system of his works P 
Could they expect that he would aid them in 
reducing Himself to a mere cypher! Mr. Bab¬ 
bage, however, makes a full confession that the 
truth of our solar system can never be ascer¬ 
tained in this world, in which I agree with him; 
for energetic measures, he remarks, are requisite 
to arrive at ultimate success, which is postponed 
until scientific vigour be given in a future world, 
where it is greatly to be doubted whether any 
new inventions and new methods will be per¬ 
mitted which would cast our Creator into the 
back-ground of his own celestial domains. 

' As to the souVs possessing the power of 



80 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


“ hearing in an after-stage of our existencef this 
we are authorized to expect from the words of 
8t. Matthew in his “ description of the last 
judgment f and the “ parable of the talents. 
Those who had made a wise and profitable use 
of the talents given unto them were cheered with 
this sentence of approbation: “ Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy 
of thy Lord.” Now the wise and unwise use made 
of those trading talents may be equally well applied 
to the intellectual talents which we have received. 
A profitable and unprofitable use may likewise be 
made of them. Those who make a proper use of 
that precious article, the intellectual talent, ex¬ 
pending it in faith and good ivorks, or even j)rac- 
tical science^ tending to promote the welfare and 
comfort of the world at large, may doubtless an¬ 
ticipate the pleasure of hearing what St. Matthew, 
in his “ description of the last judgment f attributes 
to the King, c. xxv. 34. “ Then shall the King 

say unto them on his right hand. Come, ye 
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre¬ 
pared for you from the foundation of the world.” 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


81 


St. Matthew had been alluding to that period 
“ When the Son of man shall sit upon the 
throne of his glory ; and before him shall be 
gathered all nations ; and he shall separate them 
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his 
sheep from the goats: and he shall set the 
sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the 
left.” 

The prophet Daniel^ also, in vision^ speaks of 
thronesi saying—“ the judgment was sety and the 
books were opened. 

St. John, in his Revelation, refers to the same, 
but speaks more closely to the point, saying— 


“ But the goats on the left.” I feel it necessary to acquaint 
the gentleman to whom this letter is addressed that my 
quotation from the above chapter is not meant to insinuate 
the fate destined for the scientific, although the devotees 
cannot boast of possessing much faith in Holy Writ; that 
must ever be cooked up to their own taste ; as both time 
and FORM must bend to speculative imaginations, ere the Lord 
of all creation can be lauded. It is, then, this dismal havoc 
which the tenets of our solar system make with Faith that 
urges and directs my spleen; for I consider that by its goat¬ 
like nature, that is, strong in its opposition to things most 
sacred, it well merits the left-hand doom —the confiagration 
fate. 


G 



82 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


“ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, 
and judgment was given unto them: and I saiu 
the souls of them that were beheaded for the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. And 
I saw the dead, small and great, stand before 
God; and the books were opened : and another 
book was opened, which is the hook of life: and 
the dead were judged out of those things which 
were written in the books, according to their 
works.'’ 

Now if the Books of the Old and New Tes¬ 
taments have any meaning at all, they must be 
deemed important; for the style in which they 
are written is peculiar to themselves. The sin¬ 
gularly awful denunciations, and even the mode 
in which encouragements are couched, would 
never, in my humble judgment, have been 
• thought of, had not inspiration lent its aid. 
But to return to St. John, where, at the con¬ 
clusion of his last chapter, he testifies as follows : 
■—“ For I testify unto every man that heareth 
the words of the prophecy of this book, If any 
man shall add unto these things, God shall add 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


83 


unto him the plagues that are written in this 
book; and if any man shall take away from 
the words of the book of this prophecy, God 
shall take away his part out of the book of life.” 
The margin renders it from the tree of life.” 

It might be supposed that no man, however 
great his saint ship might have been, would have 
dared to utter such astounding announcements 
against his fellow man, if not under the influence 
of the ruhng Spirit of God. The marginal re¬ 
ference from this part of St. John’s subject is to 
Exod. xxxii. 33, relative to the erection of the 
calf; which'gave unparalleled oflence. St. John 
referred to it for this reason, viz., to confirm the 
truth of his own announcement with respect to 
the blotting out of the hook of life. He must 
have well known that the integrity of that Reve¬ 
lation of his hung upon the other. Moses pleaded 
for the people, saying—“ Forgive their sin : and 
if not, blot me out of thy book which thou hast 
written. And the Lord said unto him. Who¬ 
soever hath sinned against me, him will I blot 
out of mv book.” 



84 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


We must bear in mind that the erection of the 
calf was at the very time when God was delivering 
the Commandments to Moses, and that the first 
injunction was (the first and second Command¬ 
ments run into each other)—“ Thou shalt not 
make unto thyself any graven image, nor likeness 
of the heavens,” &c. Now the calf—the sun-sur¬ 
mounted pillar —with the people dancing round it, 
was science in the abstract. They merely showed 
forth by their earthly circles what we endeavour 
to instil into the mind by our own lectures on our 
sun-image, the orrery ! It must also be observed 
that when the children of Israel marched out of 
the land of bondage they were accompanied by 
a strange mixture, Exod. xii. 38. “ And a mixed 

multitude went up also with them.’’ Now among 
this multitude there were certain apostates, dis¬ 
ciples of the science or gods of Egypt, who were 
instigators of the transgression, and proved not 
to be on the Lord’s side; for thus we read: 
“ Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, 
(the ancient forum of the place,) and said. Who 
is on the Lord’s side ? Let him come unto me. 




LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


85 


And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves 
together unto him,” &c. The consequence was, 
God gave command that the aggressors should be 
slain —“ and there fell of the people that day 
about three thousand men; ” but none who as¬ 
sembled on the Lord's side. The royal Psalmist 
notes—“ They made a calf in Horeb ; thus they 
changed their glory into the similitude of an 
ox.” 

King David, the sweet singer of Israel, was 
not ignorant of the distorting likeness of the o^, 
when, alluding to his resurrection, he says,— 
“ I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall 
be satisfied^ when I aivake with thy likeness." 

Hence we learn that no change of glory, no 
scientific erection of solar pillars embracing hy¬ 
pothetical and false ideas of the distribution of 
the heavenly host, would permit him to behold 
the/ace of his God in righteousness. None other 
would satisfy the upright king than that which 
forms, by analogy, the system or temple of the 
Heavens, and the system or temple of the human 
body, according to the tenour of St. Paul;—a 





86 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


temple, as he says, “ built upon the foundation 
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself 
being the chief corner stone; in whom all the 
building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an 
holy temple in the Lord : in whom ye also are 
budded together for an habitation of God through 
the Spirit.” 

Mark the expression—“ for an habitation 
OF God.” Therefore the pious king felt con¬ 
fident that, at the resurrection, when God 
dwelt in him, and he in God, his satisfaction and 
his glory would be complete ! 

Now it is notable that the Apostles are in¬ 
cessantly referring to the Old Testament in order 
to strengthen their positions in the New, well 
knowing that any thing they might say would 
not be worth a rush without \hdX foundation. St. 
John likewise frequently reverts to the ancient 
document, in support of his most tremendous an¬ 
nunciations ; even to the blotting out of our 
names from the book and tree of life. He was well 
acquainted, it seems, with the nature of the grand 
transgression of the wilderness. The Greek, the 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


87 


scientific language of the day^ upon which, in my 
medical friend’s letter, so much stress is laid, was 
never prostituted, hy any of the writers who 
figured in the New Testament—to the promul¬ 
gation of speculative science. Nay, quite the 
reverse. St. Paul well knew its baneful import. 
“ Beware,” says he, “lest any man spoil you 
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the 
traditions of men, after the rudiments of the 
world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth 
all the fulness of the Godhead hodily. And ye 
are complete in him,” &c.— Complete in him — 
but not in the similitude of the ox. Neither can 
we be complete in our views regarding the system 
of creation founded on that transgression. 

A friend of mine some little time since made 
the following remark :—“ I am surprised that 
the piouSy the learned, and the clergy in par¬ 
ticular, do not see the doctrine of the Newtonian 
hypothesis, (if it he the malevolent system you 
describe it,) in the same point of view that you 
do.” The answer is easy: first, with regard to 
the pious, they are quite satisfied by reading the 


88 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


books on that subject, which are generally so in¬ 
termixed with scriptural quotations, in order to 
lull the senses of the reader, that a superficial 
one easily falls into the trap. Secondly, neither 
the pious, the learned, nor the clergy, will take 
the trouble to search the Scriptures in the only 
way by which they can possibly find out that 
heinous transgression, as I have done. I am well 
aware that it requires great pains and deep re¬ 
flection ere we can dismiss that false teaching 
from the mind ; and there is no other way to 
accomplish it than by strictly studying the sacred 
records with the aid of the references, 

Bagster, in his super-excellent “ Preface to 
the English Version of the Polyglot Bible, 
strongly recommends the study of the Scriptures 
by the mode of references. A quotation from 
thence will he in place here ; and I take the 
first and second sections. 

“ It has appeared an object of the first 
magnitude, that the reader of the Holy Scrip¬ 
tures should be assisted by references from 
text to text, to have constantly in view the 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


89 


connexion of all the divine attributes, and the 
holy uniformity of God in his government, both 
of his church and of the world. A display of 
the true character and perfections of God is, 
without dispute, one chief design of the inspired 
volume. Here, as in Isaiah’s miraculous vision, 
may Jehovah be seen, sitting upon a throne, 
high and lifted up: his train tills the temple, 
and the Sacred Writers, like the Seraphim, cover 
themselves, and cry one to another, and say, 

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, IS THE LORD OF HOSTS ; 
THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS GLORY. It 

is this which gives to the Scripture its super¬ 
lative grandeur. By it, God is known ; his 
will is promulgated ; his purposes are revealed ; 
his mercy is announced ; and he is every where 
exhibited as worthy of the supreme adoration, 
love, service, and praise, of all his intelligent 
creatures. Little do those who neglect their 
Bibles think what refined delight they lose, by 
thus turning away their eyes from the most 
sublime, the most glorious, and the most beati- 


90 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY, 


fying object of contemplation, that the whole 
universe affords. 

“ Section ii. But this manifestation of the 
Divine character and government is not pre¬ 
sented to us as a matter of mere speculation 
in which we have no immediate and personal 
interest. The Holy Scriptures are designed to 
promote the glory of God by the salvation 
OF MAN. The peculiar purpose of the whole is 
to turn men from darkness to light, and from 
the power of Satan to God; to raise them from 
the ruins of the Fall, and to put them in pos¬ 
session of the blessings of Redemption; to lead 
them from sin to holiness; to conduct them 
through a state of conflict and trial on earth 
to a state of rest and felicity in heaven; and 
so to assist and direct them in all possible 
conditions of life, that they may not fail of 
these great ends, except by their own wilful 
rejection of the counsel of God against them¬ 
selves. The salvation of his own soul should 
therefore be the grand concern of every reader 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


91 


of the Scripture. Here, the immortality of the 
soul is brought to light, and placed in un¬ 
questionable evidence. Here, its defection from 
original purity is clearly demonstrated ; the 
means of its restoration are set forth ; and its 
future destiny is declared. It is an awful re¬ 
sponsibility which they incur who wilfully neglect 
this holy book, and devote all their time, and 
the powers of their minds, to terrestrial and 
subordinate objects. They slight the pearl of 
greatest price, which is no where else to be 
found; and seem as if they were determined 
to frustrate, as far as respects themselves, all 
that Divine wisdom and goodness have done to 
rescue the immortal mind of man from spiritual 
ignorance, error, vanity, vice, and ruin. Those, 
however, who are seeking to enjoy the blessings 
which the Gospel reveals, will, as they are able, 
search the Scriptures ; and such persons will 
receive great help from having references at 
hand, to assist their inquiries. ‘ It were to be 
wished,’ says Bishop Horsley, ‘ that no Bibles 
were printed without References. Particular 


92 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


diligence should be used in comparing the 
parallel texts of the Old and New Testa¬ 
ments.It is incredible/ (he adds,) ‘ to 

any one who has not made the experiment, 
what a proficiency may be made in that know¬ 
ledge which maketh wise unto salvation, by 
studying the Scriptures in this manner, without 

ANY OTHER COMMENTARY, OR EXPOSITION, THAN 
WHAT THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE SACRED 
VOLUME MUTUALLY FURNISH FOR EACH OTHER. 

Let the most illiterate Christian study them in 
this manner, and let him never cease to pray 
for the illumination of that Spirit by which 
these books were dictated ; and the whole com¬ 
pass of abstruse philosophy and recondite his¬ 
tory shall furnish no argument with which the 
perverse will of man shall be able to shake this 
learned Christian’s faith.’So great and per¬ 
fect is the coincidence of every part of the 
Word of God in the grand and merciful design 
of the whole ! ” 

Does not the above speak volumes? Is not 
“ Horsley’s Nine Sermons, pp. 224, 238.” 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


93 


the intent of Scripture, in all its bearings, 
concisely and clearly touched upon ? Bishop 
Horsley’s recommendation to study the two Tes¬ 
taments by the aid of references has been 
pursued by me for some time past, through 
wliich means the absurdity and transgression of 
our speculative science, in its labours to uphold 
that baneful hypothesis, the system of the Sun, 
was discovered. By the aid of that Spirit (so 
recommended by the Bishop) by which the Sacred 
Boohs were dictated, I have so far satisfied myself, 
that it is not in the power of the whole compass 
of abstruse philosophy and recondite sophistry, 
furnished by the scientific, ever again to shake 
my faith ! 

I will now quote a few lines from Section iii., 
merely for the purpose of introducing a somewhat 
curious question of Mr. Wirgman’s with respect 
to Newton. We read— 

“ This is more apparent,” (alluding to the co¬ 
incidence of every part of the Word of God, as 
before stated,) ‘'and the harmony and perfection 
of the Holy Scriptures are rendered more pecu- 



94 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


liarly evident and distinct, by the constant 
reference of all its writers to our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ. ' To him give all the 
PROPHETS WITNESS,’ Acts X. 43. The things 
which were written in the law of Moses, and 
in all the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concern 
HIM, (Luke xxiv. 27, 44.) ; and would come to 
nothing if he were separated from them. He 
is the bright and morning star ; the true light 
that must lighten every man who comes to see 
the glory of Divine Revelation. (Rev. xxii. 16.)” 
Verse 16 is not given entire by Mr. Bagster; 
but being, as it were, an introduction to, and con¬ 
nected with, what has been already quoted from 
St. John regarding the final judgment, and 
blotting out from the book of life, and the adding 
and taking away from the prophetic revelations, 
I here insert it: “I Jesus have sent mine 
angel to testify unto you these things in the 
churches. I am the root and offspring of David, 
and the bright and morning star.” 

Hence it mav be inferred that Jesus Christ 
was a testifier to the authority of St. John’s 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


95 


tremendous denouncements in reference to the 
erection of the calf being the most deadly of 
sins ! No lecturing, however refined it may be, 
on our system of Baal, the sun, in the present 
day, can alter the nature of that transgression ; 
for it is the very counterpart in principle to that 
misdemeanour in the wilderness ! 

Bagster’s allusion to the Saviour as being 
the bright star, “ the true light that must lighten 
every manf &c. may be fairly placed in juxta¬ 
position with Wirgman’s query. He inquires, 
when eulogizing the immortal Newton for his 
grand achievement in his theory of colours ^— 
“ Is not this wise sage a light to lighten the 
Gentiles ? ’’ This sentence, I humbly think, 
ought never to be uttered, ivritten, or even 
thought of, but with the solemn association ever 
to be connected with it; namely, the devout 
Simeon's ejaculation on beholding the infant 
Christ in the Temple : “ Lord, now lettest thou 
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy 
word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 
which thou hast prepared before the face of all 


9G 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


people ; A LIGHT TO LIGHTEN THE GeNTILES, 

and the glory of thy people Israel.” 

Under what different impressions is the mind 
placed when reading the accounts given by 
those two men, Bagster and Wirgman—both on 
the self-same subject —that of the records of the 
two Testaments. The former, extolling and 
praising those records in all their pristine 
beauties—even striking at abstruse philosophy as 
the enemy to which the Inspired Writings are 
alone exposed; and the latter, taking the crown 
of enlightener from off the head of Jesus Christ, 
to place it on the head of Isaac Neivton! Wirg¬ 
man, it is true, puts it as a query; and it may 
be thus answered :—The dogmas of Newton’s 
h}^othesis rob of their integrity Moses, the 
Psalmist, the Prophets, the Apostles, St. John 
the Divine, and Jesus Christ himself —of every 
main assertion that is written in the two Tes¬ 
taments in reference to the system of creation — 
the touchstone of our faith. Moral duties, of 
course, must be observed. 

I will here give a sample of Wirgman’s style. 






DU Y A K I € AVT I OAf 


OF rUF, 



Diagram lo IJliistrate 
T 1 A<1 IK .IE T IK BI T T. 



mm 


HODT 


|l1u' S]>Ij<r'ro of-fhe-^ 

\YixrrY.y 


7'-^ Pft9r ,scalft 



His BODY is iii TEME liis SOTX is in ETEENTTi 












LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


97 


urging you to bear in mind the emphatic and 
august mode in which Bags ter treats his subject. 
His entire Preface breathes a similar spirit, 
even as though he stood in awe while touching 
on the heavenly truths. 

I know that the gentleman whom I address 
possesses a copy of Mr. Wirgman’s Diagram, 
though not his Book on the “ Divarication of 
the New Testament; ’’ yet, as this epistle may 
be seen and read by others, and a reference to 
it may be necessary in the perusal of the fol¬ 
lowing quotation, it is introduced here. 

The light in which the author views the 
defects of the Historical parts of Scripture has 
been already mentioned; but, as some of his 
opinions may require those imagined defects to be 
reflected on, I deem it necessary to recur to the 
subject. ‘‘ The difference between ‘ history ’ 
and ‘ DOCTRINE,’ with regard to its proofs, is 
perfectly distinct. The former never can reach 
higher than possibility and probability; while the 
latter affords a convictiony whose contrary is im¬ 
possible.” 

H 


98 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


It is, then, necessary to bear in mind that we 
are not to place implicit faith in history, let 
the import of the subject be whatever it may. 
To give a tolerably correct notion of his mode 
of arguing it is necessary to commence at some 
one of the dividing points of the subject, as 
thus :— 


MORAL CERTAINTY 

PHYSICAL CERTAINTY 

is effected by 

is produced by 

REASON. 

SENSE. 


“ Upon the clear and evident distinction that 
exists between the moral and physical world, we 
establish, for ever, the principle on which the Di¬ 
varication of the ‘ Holy Book ’ into Doctrine 
and History is founded. Whatever regards 
Doctrine must partake of its purity, be per¬ 
manent, and exist in eternity. Whatever con¬ 
cerns History must have been fleeting in its 
nature, and have consisted of matter, and its 
action upon other matter; thus filling up a part 
of SPACE, and occupying a portion of time. 





LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


99 


This distinction is rendered intuitive by a mere 
glance at the Diagram. So necessary, however, 
are these two laws of nature, that, were they 
annulled, the whole kingdom of nature would be 
annihilated, and blank nothingness left, on which 
human thought cannot be engaged. The laws of 
Time and Space are, therefore, visibly stamped 
on all the objects of nature, which exist only for 
a limited period. Yet these events are capable 
of being noticed, because they produce new and 
different sensations, by constantly gliding down 
the stream of Time. But a faithful account of 
all the circumstances that have occurred in Time 
must necessarily constitute a History of past 
events. This view of the subject completely 
exhausts every notion that we can form relative 
to the mutations which take place in Time, 
and, as far as our records reach, constitutes 
History. 

“ Among the most important of these events 
are those recorded in the ‘ Sacred Book,’—the 
history of the creation, by Moses, and of the first 
man, Adam, who was made a living soul, placed 


> 



100 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


in a garden, where he yielded to temptation, and 
thus fell. How beautifully does this allegory 
display the gradual enhghtenment of mankind, 
hy showing that, prior to the developement of 
REASON, the individual was unable to withstand 
the seductions of the inclinations, and that con¬ 
sequently SENSE obtained the predominance! 
Hence the Fall of Man ! The second part of 
this ‘ Sacred History ’ amply redeems this fatal 
overthrow. For here the second Adam, who is 
tempted in a wilderness, entirely vanquishes his 
enemy—the bad passions of the flesh—and is the 
quickening spirit; for, by the efforts of liis 
reason, the Aor^os incarnate, he so purified him¬ 
self from sensible gratifications that he com¬ 
pletely vanquished the arch-enemy of mankind. 

^ The temptations to which the second Adam was exposed, 
according to St. Matthew, were the riches of the kingdoms 
of this world; wmuld he but have resigned his integrity, they 
were to be his. That such things were temptations, even Christ 
himself admits by his reply to the tempter. “It is written,” 
said he, “ Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Landed 
property and power, no doubt, w’ere objects of desire in those 
early ages ; and, in the present one, can we boast of having 
vanquished our tempting enemy —excess of lucre and power? 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


101 


Thus did Christ redeem the world by displaying 
that obedience to the Word of God, the Aojos, 
that the whole force of the inclinations of the 
flesh were unable to draw him from his duty ; 
and thus did he complete the great work of 
Atonement. This affecting history affords a 
proof of the possibility of reason obtaining the 
supremacy over sense. This is the state of 
cultivated reason. 


The expression “ It is written,'* —in the sense in which Jesus 
Christ used it,—envelopes an extensive meaning ! For who can 
prove that it does not include all that is recorded, i. e. written, 
in the ‘ Sacred Book,' as Wirgman styles the Bible ? I think 
it does so, for this reason : it is not to be supposed that the 
Saviour of the world should speak of things merely to suit the 
present moment, and not to suit all future ages. I cannot 
agree with Mr. Wirgman in his idea of the cause of Adam's 
fall. “ He yielded,” says he, “ to temptation, and thus fell.” 
He then proceeds to say, “ How beautifully does this allegory 
display the gradual enlightenment of mankind, by showing that, 
prior to the developement of reason, the individual was unable 
to withstand the seductions of the inclinations ! ” The question is. 
Did God leave man an idiot after he had finished his creation ? 
Was sin to be his tutor ? Could he, or Eve, have argued with 
the tempter, had they been devoid of reason ? No, it is my 
humble opinion, that conscience played within, and proved 
its perfection prior to the fall. 


102 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


“ The moral extracted from this ‘ History ’ 
will last as long as there are human beings to 
appreciate its value; while it is doubtful if any 
two particles of the material on which Moses 
recorded his momentous story are still in con¬ 
tact : a sufficient proof that the moral, the 
Doctrine, is the permanent part of the ‘ Book,’ 
because even the component parts, or its sub- 

“ Doubtful if any two particles of the material on which 
Moses recorded his momentous story are still in contact.” This 
is very true, and greatly to be deplored, because the material 
he had from God —which instigates the following questions :— 
What is and where is that Word of God to be found, by 
which Christ (agreeably to Mr. Wirgman) redeemed the world, 
and worked out the great atonement in consequence of his 
obedience thereto —if not in the Inspired Writings ? which our 
author himself had but just declared to be the Sacred Book, 
when speaking of the History of past events; ” saying— 
“ Among the most important of these are those recorded in the 
Sacred Book, the history of the creation, by Moses.” Pray, 
what has dissipated that sacredness ? We are not favoured with 
the name or title of the bold disjointer; but it is not difficult 
to guess on whom the cap best fits. It is the wise sage —the 
immortal definer of colours —the light to lighten the Gentiles, and 
to be the glory of the scientific squad ! 

How very, very differently does the quotation from Bagster’s 
Preface affect the mind, compared with the one we have now 
before us ! 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


103 


stantial particles, may fade away, while the 
‘ morality ’ of the Book endures for ever. 
Nay, with respect to the facts which it records, 
each individually could only have occurred at 
one precise time, and can never recur. It 
would afford abundant information to the existing 
generation to have it proved that the serpent 
really talked, and actually told Eve to give Adam 
the apple, that he might consummate his own 
condemnation.” (How sneering /) “ But all the 

researches of the most erudite will never be able 
to produce a fact about which there cannot be 
two opinions. History is, therefore, the ground 
of disagreement, while Doctrine is the ground 
of perfect unanimity. 

“ The History of our Saviour, his humble 
birth, his ministry, and even the heart-rending 
recital of his crucifixion, though they convey a 
very affecting and most instructive moral, were 
each of them evanescent circumstances, about 
which no absolute proof can be afforded at the 
present day. Was there darkness over the land 
from the sixth till the ninth hour? Was the 


104 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


veil of the temple rent from the top to the 
bottom ? Is it in the power of man to vouch 
for what has occurred nearly two thousand years 
ago ? And, if ascertained to the perfect con¬ 
viction of the querist, what doctrinal point is 
gained by this decision ? If Adam was at all 
acquainted with the properties of the circle, he 
must have been fully aware, as it is generated 
by the motion of a line round one of its ends, 
that all the lines from the centre to the cir¬ 
cumference must be equal. Such is the case at 
the present day; and so will it remain as long as 
human minds exist to contemplate circles. The 
difference between ‘ History ’ and ‘ Doctrine,’ 
with regard to proofs, is perfectly distinct. The 
former never can reach higher than possibihty 
and probability; while the latter affords a con¬ 
viction ^ whose contrary is impossible.” 

As the New Testament is open unto all for 
inspection, it may seem needless to copy from 
the 27th chapter of St. Matthew, where the 
heart-rending recital of which our author now 
speaks is fully stated in all its details. But, 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


105 


by so doing, it will not only save my readers the 
trouble of taking up the “ Sacred Book,” but 
will be the fairest way, as it will bring into juxta¬ 
position the author’s views of the incapability 
of History to reach higher than possibility 
and probability, and the predicament in which it 
places the Saviour and his crucifixion. 

To take the necessary quotation from the 
chapter above mentioned, we must begin at 
verse 41, where we read—“ the chief priests 
mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said. 
He saved others ; himself he cannot save. If he 
be the King of Israel, let him now come down 
from the cross, and we will believe him. He 
trusted in God ; let him deliver him now, if he 
will have him : for he said, I am the Son of God. 
* # * Now from the sixth hour there was 

darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a 
loud voice, saying, (in pure Hebrew,) ‘ My God, 
my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? ’ Some 
of them that stood there, when they heard that, 
said. This man calleth for Elias. And straight- 


106 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


way one of them ran, and took a sponge, and 
filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and 
gave him to drink. The rest said. Let be, let 
us see whether Elias will come to save him. 
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud 
voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the 
veil of the temple was rent in twain, from the 
top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, 
and the rocks rent; And the graves were 
opened, and many bodies of saints which slept 
arose. And came out of the graves after his 
resurrection, and went into the holy city, and 
appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, 
and they that were with him, watching Jesus, 
saw the earthquake, and those things that were 
done, they feared greatly, saying. Truly this was 
the Son of God.” 

In the above minute recital there are, in my 
humble opinion, far too many awfully-attending 
circumstances ever to have been thought of by 
any set of persons whatsoever, had not the reality 
taken place. Let us reflect: earthquake, rending 
of rocks, opening of graves, saints arising there- 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


107 


frorn^ and making their appearance in the city of 
Jerusalem^—the veil of the temple rent in twain — 
darkness over all the land from the sixth unto 
the ninth hour. Every tittle was preserved and 
carefully noted down which related to that im¬ 
portant event, even to the moments at which 
the darkness commenced and subsided. Amply 
sufficient were all these circumstances to extort 
from the centurion that momentous confession— 
“ Truly this was the Son of God.’’ 

When these things are placed under the de¬ 
cision of our scientific author’s sentiments relative 
to “ History,” which, according to that decision, 
never can reach higher than possibility and pro¬ 
bability, in what predicament does it involve 
om faith ? For who can have implicit faith in 
that which can never reach beyond a possibility ? 
It not only draws the crucifixion into the same 
vortex, but makes it uncertain whether Christ 
himself ever did exist on earth; and thus 
leaves the foundation of Christianity little better 
than a blank I Truly, the ‘‘ substantial particles ” 
of Holy Writ “ fade away ” under the culture 


108 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


of the scientific. And, in regard to the serpent^ 
where it is sneeringly said, “ abundant informa¬ 
tion it would give to the present generation to 
have it proved that the serpent really talked 
&c.; it may be replied, that the creature^ man, 
in the first instance, could no more have uttered 
speech than any other of the animal form, until 
power was given by his Creator. It is therefore 
my opinion, that, if the case required it, through 
the power of God speech might be given where 
to us it would appear absurd. The fact is, our 
scientific author was disposed to pry for something 
to turn into ridicule, in order that “ History ” 
might be depreciated, because it is the sole 
foundation on which his ‘Divarication ’ rests; 
and the serpent was a neat little article to fix 
upon for the purpose. Besides, it threw the 
Mosaic history into the shade, which to him was 
an object to be desired. Indeed we are given to 
understand, among other things, that the Bible 
is not Theological but Historical, which gives a 
latitude to diminish its substantial particles. 

Now I am aware that among those who may 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


109 


perchance read my hook, some may have read 
Mr. Wirgman’s, and may say—“ We can produce 
several instances, in the course of his work, 
where he decidedly maintains that History con¬ 
tains the truth. I am well aware of it, and so 
can I give several such instances, and as many, 
if not more, that are against it: even in the 
course of a single page it is both ways at once! 
It may then he asked—How comes it that this 
highly talented author permits himself to say and 
unsay in a hreath ? The answer is plain. His 
cause required it; for to have been so bold as 
to cast off Scriptural History entirely would have 
rendered his error too glaringly apparent, and 
the most superficial observer might have con¬ 
demned the Book. Hence the necessity of 
holding up the holy screen at times. It proves 
the weakness of his cause, and the utter im¬ 
possibility of separating the History from the 
Doctrine of Holy Writ, without dissolving the 
true Spirit of the “ Sacred Book.^^ 

The united efforts of two sciences. Geology and 
Astronomy, make a tolerably sweeping affair of 


110 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


mowing down the Scriptures; for it is certain, 
as Mr. Wirgman has justly remarked, that 
the contact of any tivo particles is rarely to 
be found as God hath been pleased to place it 
through the medium of those whom he appointed 
to make known unto the world his will and law. 
St. John, however, in his Revelation, with the 
assistance of the bright and morning star, com¬ 
pletely restores it to its primitive purity, releases 
it from the depredations committed by the 
peculations of speculative science, and passes 
judgment against all those who add or take away 
from the prophecies of the hook; both of which 
the doctrines of Astronomy and Geology, as taught 
in the present day, presume to do ; for they leave 
little or nothing of the primitive word standing. 
Their additions are multitudinous, and, being of 
the detracting class, they consequently engender 
Unbelief. What says St. Paul to unbelief? It 
may not be amiss in this place to give his words. 
In his Epistle to the Romans, (speaking of the 
oracles of God having been committed to the Jews,) 
he says—“ For what if some did not believe? ' 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


Ill 


shall their unbelief make the faith of God with¬ 
out effect ? God forbid: yea, let God be true, 
but every man a liar and he then assigns the 
following reason, saying—“ That thou mightest 
he justified in thy sayings, and mightest over¬ 
come when thou art judged.” 

Now, let us reflect that none have ever seen 
Godj to converse with, and judge Him ! Then 
the question is. In what way can that be done, 
i. e. can God he judged ? Certainly in no other 
way than by passing judgment against his Word, 
and the principles upon which he hath declared 
his system of the Creation to be founded I The 
truth of which he hath taken special care shall 
be made visible to the whole world by the daily 
revolution of the flying luminary. Therefore St. 
Paul, very properly and justifiably, says—“ Yea, 
let God he true, hut every man a liar.” For many 
have judged thee and thy Works, in that they 
have presumed to judge thy Word and have pro¬ 
nounced the system of thy Works a falsehood! 
and, moreover, have erected their graven image, 
the orrery, as the idolatrous Israelites did their 


112 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY, 


calf, and madly dance around it! Therefore, for 
these things, viz., the hold assumptions which 
speculative science directs against God, its de¬ 
votees must expect to be overcome —making good 
the announcement of St. Paul — “ That thou 
mightest overcome when thou art judged” 

The passage of St. Paul cannot be understood 
in any other sense than that which I have given 
it, and for this reason: there is no way in 
which the Almighty can be so tremendously and 
so effectively assaulted as the one I have already 
mentioned, because there can he none of more 
mighty import than the total subversion of his 
Word and works in the minds of the people by 
reason of false teaching. 

As to the Newtonian hypothesis, it deceives 
the very elect. Such a catalogue of strange ren¬ 
derings of the Hebrew text as might here be 
given would astonish any one. One, out of the 
many, will suffice, merely to show that even 
celebrated Doctors of Divinity do not escape the 
baneful influence. 

“ John Lamb, D. D., Master of Corpus Christi 



I 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 113 

College^ Cambridge. In his Treatise on the 
“ Hebrew Characters,” among the various 
learned and curious things contained in his in¬ 
structive volume, we however meet with what I 
deem a^a^^, springing from a little of the New¬ 
tonian law, where he gives the interpretation 
of part of the 30th verse of Isaiah v. To go 
through the entire Hebrew process which belongs 
to this account, would, I am aware, be unin¬ 
teresting to a M.D. whose studies have not led to 
that language. Sufficient, however, must be given 
to do justice to that ingenious and learned 
author, the more particularly since I am about 
to criticise a portion of his work. I must first 
quote the verse which has been interpreted by 
the Doctor agreeably to the Newtonian law, 
(Isaiah v. 30.)—‘‘ And in that day they shall 
roar against them ” (alluding to ‘ the executioners 
of God's judgments' on account of the various 
misdemeanours noted in the chapter in question) 
“ like the roaring of the sea : and if one look 
unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and 
the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.” 


I 


114 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


In the margin we find the last sentence, ‘‘ and 
the light is darkened in the heavens thereof” thus 
corrected^ (proving it to he a false translation:) 

“ when it is light, it shall he dark in the de~ 
structions thereof” This evidently alludes to 
the awful devastations with which the land 
should he visited on account of the rehelHon of 
its inhabitants,—so that the land, although at the 
natural period of daylight, should be as it were 
darkened by the horrors of destructions. For 
even as a field of battle, after the conflict is past, 
is as a scene of darkness, —for life that was lies 
dead upon its plains, —so may the world be com¬ 
pared to it when under the devastating judgments 
of an offended God! 

Our present Hebrew subject is particularly 
confined to the eighteenth letter of the alphabet, 
the tzadi, the original meaning of which, in 
the Doctor’s opinion, arose from “ a horned 
beast.” The Rev. Raby Williams also, in his 
“ Systematic View of the revealed Wisdom of the 
Word of God,” when speaking of that letter, 
gives its meaning thus: ‘‘ the side, ensnare. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


115 


venison, ohviaticum,^' which corresponds with 
Dr. Lamb’s opinion. 

I will now quote from his book the passage to 
which I allude. 

Haz-zazaim Vehaz-ze- 

phioth. 

‘‘ In Isaiah (xxii. 23, 24,) we have the fol¬ 
lowing passage: 

Ti^ riTn Qipm ‘in’’ vnvpm 

■fi^-n-'i Tina Sn 

■’'rn-’rn un ■’’rnn ppn ■’’^n ’rn niynnm 

: cn''*7n3n 

“ ‘ I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; 
and he shall be for a glorious throne to his 
father’s house. 

‘‘ ‘ And they shall hang upon him all the glory 
of his father’s house, the offspring and the 
ISSUE, all vessels of small quantity, from the 
vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons.’ 

“ I may first remark that ’iji'’ (jathed), ren¬ 
dered ‘ a nail,’ should he ‘ a pole ;’ it was the 
centre pole of a circular tent, which supported 


116 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


the whole, and was supplied with pegs for the 
purpose of hanging thereon various vessels. 

{cis-see)t rendered ‘ throne,’ is the circular 
seat round the tent on which the Orientals re¬ 
clined, as their descendants do to this day. 
Thus the metaphor is quite clear. The indi¬ 
vidual alluded to is described as a tent firmly 
fixed, and well supplied with all necessary fur¬ 
niture. Now, what can he the meaning of 
hanging up on the pole of the tent the off¬ 
spring AND THE ISSUE ? The word 
(zazaim) is the letter used twice in its pri¬ 
mitive sense of ‘ a horn; ’ and signifies ‘ drink¬ 
ing-horns.’ (zephioth), which Gesenius 

terms ‘ a very difficult word,’ is literally ‘ horns 
for the mouth with two feet.’ And thus the 
passage becomes perfectly clear by taking these 
words in their true meaning of drinking-vessels. 

‘‘ From (za), ‘ a horn,’ was derived the 


^ In this college we preserve as a valuable memorial of 
our founder a drinking-vessel of this kind : it may properly be 
called (zephiah), being a large horn mounted on two 

feet.” 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


117 


verb (yaza), to ‘ sprout up as a born,’ ‘ to 
grow; ’ and hence (zazaim) does sig¬ 
nify ‘ offspring,’ and (zephioth), being 

found joined with it, was made to signify ‘ issue.’ 
This is not a solitary instance of one word being 
misinterpreted, and of another being forced to 
comply with its meaning. 

“ (zar) and (aretz). 

‘‘ (zar)^^ is literally ‘ horns flying,’—a me¬ 

taphor for the moon, a planet. This meaning of 
the word explains a difficult passage in Isaiah. 
In chapter v. we have, in the 28th verse, 

void 

translated thus: ‘ Their horses’ hoofs shall be 
counted Hke flint.’ 

“ And immediately following, in the 30th verse, 
we have— 

"pyn -n«i is itsn-TOm 

translated thus: ‘ If one look unto the land, 

a stone, i. q. “1!^, 11!^ Isaiah v. 28.—‘ In Isaiah 
V. 30, Saadias and some Hebrew interpreters (cited by 
Rashi) explain it by moon, which is applicable, but the 
ground of the interpretation is not sufficiently demonstrated.’ 
(Gesenius.)” 



118 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is 
darkened in the heavens thereof.’ 

“ In these passages we have the word (zar) 
rendered in one flint, and in the other sorrow. 
In the first it should be, ‘ their horses’ hoofs 
shall be as the moon,’ (z. e. as flying horns.) 
There is a peculiar force in the word as used in 
this passage. The word DID (sus)y ‘ the hoof,’ 
is literally, as I have before shown, ‘ a flying 
moon,’ i. e. swift and moon-shaped; and the 
prophet keeps the same metaphor, but borrowed 
from two other letters; and it is the same as 
saying—Their horses’ hoofs shall indeed be ac¬ 
cording to their meaning, not only in shape as 
a moon, but hard as horn. 

“ The second passage should be thus ren¬ 
dered : 

‘‘ ‘ One looketh to the earth, and behold dark¬ 
ness ; and the moon and her light is darkness, 
as when she veileth her face.’ 

This is the passage in which the Doctor neglected to 
consult the margin, where the incorrect translation is rectified; 
and then he adopted Newton s law, as will be seen. 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


119 


“ (ba-ariphejah) probably means a 

total eclipse; from or ‘ to blind/ lite¬ 
rally ‘ to put a skin over the eyes/ (Exod. xxiii. 
8. Deut. xvi. 19.) and ‘ her face.”’ 

I now come to that part of verse 30, where 
the Newtonian law is brought into use. He 
says :— 

“ (aretz), ‘ the earth,’ is ‘ the chief or 
primary planet,’ probably with reference to 
(zar), ‘the moon,’ a secondary planet.” (Now 
observe.) “ And the beauty of the passage 
consists in understanding the words according 
to their correct signification: ‘ One looketh to 
the planet, Earth, all is darkness: one looketh to 
the Moon, and her light is the darkness of a 
total eclipse.’ ” He then remarks—“ It may 
be objected that this is presuming upon a know¬ 
ledge of astronomy far beyond that which existed 
at the early period when these words were 
formed;” and further observes—“ I have no 
doubt, before language became phonetic, the 
system of astronomy now universally adopted 
was to a great degree understood. From that 


120 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


curious fragment of Phoenician cosmogony,” &c. 
To this the Doctor proceeds to refer; but on this 
part of his subject I have nothing to remark, 
except that the ancients were well versed in the 
idolatry of the system of Baal, the Sun, and con¬ 
sequently in the principles of the Solar System. 
In fact, the prophets, one and all of them, under¬ 
stood the nature of that transgression, and it was 
the burden of their song incessantly to utter 
God’s judgments against it! 

Dr. Lamb has endeavoured, in his ingenious 
interpretations, to make his positions agree with 
the context. But in his Newtonian scientific 
interpretation of the latter part of verse 30, 
success has not attended him. In the first place 
(zar), in reference to the moon, is too far¬ 
fetched to be at all applicable. According to 
Saadias and others, it is allowed to be not suf¬ 
ficiently demonstrated. It never can be demon¬ 
strated to the satisfaction of any one ; for the 
word zar is nowhere, throughout the entire 
Bible, made use of to signify moon. Neither is 
(ba-ariphejah) ever written to signify 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


121 


“ in the heavens thereof, As to zar, it is always 
used as follows—“ to hind close,to oppress,” 
“ narrow strait,” distress,” “ afflict,” “ to 
besiege,” ‘‘a severe persecutor,” —or something 
which implies those meanings: they are all of 
them, more or less, various engenderers of trouble 
and sorrow, which more properly belong to per¬ 
sons than to the moon I 

It will now be proper to take this fifth chapter 
of Isaiah into strict consideration, and to examine 
how far the Rev. Doctor’s interpretation suits 
the context. 

The judgments declared in the above-named 
chapter are against impiety, injustice, and other 
things, and, as usual, the Works are not forgotten; 
they are touched upon in the following terms: 
“ they regard not the work of the Lord,” (al¬ 
luding to the system of creation.) ‘‘ Therefore,” 
said he, “ my people are gone into captivity, 
because they have no knowledge.” Their bondage 
was in consequence of chnging to their vain 
devices —following a false light. Therefore, at 
verse 20, the prophet says—“ Woe unto them 


122 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


that put darkness for light, and light for dark¬ 
ness,’’— contrasting with “ Thy word is a lamp 
unto my feet and a light unto my path: ” but 
a light which is not used in speculative science, 
as will, I think, be found to be the case in the 
Rev. Doctor’s interpretation. 

I must now proceed to state in what manner, 
according to the prophet, “ the executioners of 
God’s judgments ” are said to proceed against 
those who offend in certain objectionable points ; 
it will then be perceived whether “ the beauty of 
the passage consists in understanding the words 
according ” to the Doctor’s “ signification.” 

Against the offenders it is written, “ Their root 
shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go 
up as dust: because they have cast away the law 
of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of 
the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of 
the Lord kindled against his people; ... and he 
will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and 
will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: 
and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly : 
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


123 


none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the 
girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of 
their shoes be broken: Whose arrows are sharp, 
and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall 
be counted like flint, and their wheels like a 
whirlwind : Their roaring shall he like a lion, 
they shall roar like young lions : yea, they shall 
roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it 
away safe, and none shall deliver 

I now come to verse 30, and will give it as 
it is written with its marginal correction; and, 
after, agreeably to the Doctor’s interpretation. 

Verse 30. “ And in that day they shall roar 

against them like the roaring of the sea : and if 
one look unto the land, behold darkness and 
sorrow, and when it is light, it shall be dark 
in the destructions thereof.” 

With the Doctor’s interpretation, “ the execu¬ 
tioners of God's judgments^' it would be thus: 

“ And in that day they shall roar against them 
like the roaring of the sea: and if one looketh to 
the planet Earth, all is darkness: one looketh to 


124 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


the Moon, and her light is the darkness of a total 
eclipse.’’ 

This most extraordinary and senseless inter¬ 
pretation was obtained by the lamp of Neivton! 
So much for speculative science ! Now, only 
imagine God’s hissing for the executioners of his 
wrath, “ roaring like young lions to lay hold of 
the preyf so that “ none shall deliver it” Now 
I here ask. Against what ? Why, truly, against 
one of the processes which belong to his own 
glorious works, even an Eclipse!! I therefore 
cannot agree with the author, that the beauty 
of the passage consists in understanding the words 
according to that interpretation under the do¬ 
minion of Newtonian laws” And does not this 
justify my assertion, that that profane, delusive 
system deceived the very elect ? In fact, Mr. 
Wirgman’s remarks are completely corroborated ; 
for, the substantial particles of the “ Holy Book” 
fade away, and no two particles are in contact. 
So he hath said, and so it really is. But it is 
deplorable to reflect that the highly talented and 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


125 


prime geniuses of the land should permit the film 
to remain over their eyes^ so that they see not 
the plainest truths. Indeed Mr. Wirgman is so 
tenacious for the honour of Newton’s law, that, 
to enhance the dignity and truth of that of God, 
he announces the former, so as to prove the truth 
of the latter ! I will here give an instance. 

In an early part of his Preface, speaking in 
disparagement of historical points, which he deems 
the sole cause of disagreements among religious 
sects, we thus read : “ Here we are sure to find 
that some narration, some historical record, has 
inadvertently been admitted to constitute that 
which was erroneously considered pure doctrine ; 
some fact substituted for principle. For on 
principle we cannot differ, and it must be a rare 
case, indeed, to perceive a fact about which we 
do entirely agree. For facts are evanescent 
events, that have but a limited time ; while prin¬ 
ciples are immutable and permanent, that must 
remain for ever, even in eternity. Their very 
elements, therefore, are of a discordant nature, 
and can never coalesce. This heterogeneous 


126 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


mixture must then necessarily generate perpetual 
disunion. The natural result of this sincere and 
honest self-examination will be productive of 
more genuine Christianity than the most pro¬ 
longed and vigorous argument that can be set 
up in defence of any favourite dogma; and the 
ultimate termination of the glorious work will 
produce the final destruction of sects, by the 
detection of their errors, and the permanent 
harmony of the disputants, who will thence¬ 
forward be for ever united in a firm bond of 
HOLY UNION. Then, indeed, may Religion be 
dignified with the touching appellation of the 
‘ Sacred Science.’ May this period soon 
arrive ! 

“ The essential and eternal distinction that 
exists between facts and principles, even in their 
very constituent elements, being now fully de¬ 
monstrated, there will be no difficulty in es¬ 
tablishing a rule for the adjustment of every 
religious dispute. This rule, from its absolute 
universality, may more properly be denominated 
a ‘canon,’ or standard of evidence—not, in- 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


127 


deed, a canon enacted by any council or earthly 
power, and enforced by earthly authority, but a 
canon, as a divine gift, seated in the universal 
REASON of man. Who can doubt the uniformity 
of the operation of a principle which forms a 
constituent part of that pre-eminent faculty of 
man— reason ? Now, as reason is a self-active 
faculty, it actually originates its own laws, that 
is to say, they arise out of itself, uninfluenced by 
external objects; hence all its decisions must be 
both consistent and uniform. For reason ceases 
to be REASON when it contradicts itself, and then 
we are left without a guide.” (Now mark.) 
“ This ‘ CANON ’ will carry along with it all the 
truth, correctness, and conviction, that the mind 
obtains from contemplating the law of gravitation, 
or any truth of the pure sciences which admits 
of no dispute whatever, and, being a constituent 
part of the human mind, must last as long as 
mind exists.” 

Now of the law of gravitation, or any truth 
of the pure sciences,” &c. the author, in the first 
few lines of his Preface, concerning the Di- 


128 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


VISION OF THE HoLY ScRIPTURES,” SayS-‘‘ A 

scientific display of this principle, exhibited in 
the Argument for the Divarication at the 
end of the Introduction, furnishes a self-evident 
justification of the present attempt, and proves 
the division of the ‘ Divine Revelation ’ to 
be not only rational, but one without which the 
Word of God cannot enter, in all its purity, into 
the heart, and operate upon our conduct. It will 
prove to be such a division as will raise the 
precepts of Christ to a state of conviction far 
surpassing the utmost evidence afforded by the 
pure sciences, and satisfy the mind both of their 
unerring truth and of their divine descent.” 

It was thought necessary, we thus perceive, to 
commence the work with a good impression. But 
the promise thus afforded was soon relinquished. 
In fact, it is now quite done away with; and the 
CANON {not enacted by any council or earthly 
power, and enforced by- earthly authority, but a 
canon, as a divine gift,) is now so humbled as 
even to be thought honoured by being based 
upon Newtonian law, which the term “ pure 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


129 


sciences ” conveys to the mind. Let us not 
forget the predicament of the eclipse suffering 
under that law, even men, horses^ and chariots 
pouring down like a ivhirlwindy and roaring like 
lions to pounce upon it. 

There is really no end to the extraordinary 
freaks adopted in the illustrations of the System 
of the Sun. In fact, it is perpetually in the 
minds of almost all authors, let their subject be 
whatever it may. It is seldom they get over a 
dozen pages without eulogizing and fixing it, as 
they thinkf upon a firm footing. Wirgman, in 
the midst of his scientific explanations of the 
Triune Essence or Trinity in Unity, gives 
us wLat I take to be a sort of picture of a solar 
system, in illustration of the sublime Triad. In 
speaking of “ the Deity in His three relations,” 
which, as he says, is “so beautifully and ex¬ 
pressively set forth in the ‘ Scriptures ’ under 
the impressive words of Father, Son, and Holy 
Ghost, these three persons constituting the God¬ 
head,”—he observes, “ so that in all things there 
is a ‘ Trinity in Unity’ and a ‘ Unity in 


K 



130 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


Trinity * to constitute the Divine Essence, 
which, being a Moral Essence, that is, reason, 
can only subsist in three distinct persons—neither 
more nor less—making one only true God ! ’’ 

The following passage exhibits the Picture to 
which I have alluded. 

“We may now proceed,” says he, “ to apply 
the TRIUNE principle in all its multiform rami¬ 
fications, from that inconceivably small speck,” 
(query, emblem oi the, Sun ?) “the mathematical 
point, where it exists in all the fulness of per¬ 
fection, to the utmost stretch of the boundless 
universe; and even then, leaving all these 
Jinites” (boundless jinites 1) “ it leaps into the 
fathomless depths of absolute infinitude, and 
there, blazing forth in never-fading complete¬ 
ness and sublimity, it settles and centres in that 
ineffable Being, the Author of all, where its 
everlasting majesty and beauty shall never suffer 
diminution !—in God ! ” 

This is what I call enclosing the Deity in a 
bundle of science! In this bundle there are in¬ 
consistencies similar to those which pertain to 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


131 


our solar system. Besides, it does not accord 
with Mr. Wirgman’s own ideas of reason. He 
repeatedly says—‘‘ reason ceases to be reason 
when it contradicts itself.'^ He hkewise declares 
REASON to be absolutely God, saying—“ In the 
beginning was reason, and reason was with 
God, and reason was God ; and reason was 
made flesh, and dwelt among us in all the 
glory of the Father ! ’’ Therefore, in my 
humble opinion, his present envelope for the 
glory of God breaks through his own rules, for 
it embraces contradictions. How can there be a 
boundless finite in nature ? And what difference 
can there possibly be between^niYe and absolute 
infinitude? And how can we imagine a centre 
where there is no bound ? It is a very incomplete 
diagram, for of what use is a mathematical point 
without a bound or circle ? Mr. Wirgman’s 
picture for showing off God’s majesty and beauty 
is not equal to the summit on which the Prophet 
Habakkuk declares Him to be enthroned; for he 
says—“ His glory caps the heavens —intimating 
a completion to the works of creation, which the 


132 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


solar system plan rejects ! There is no sanctum 
sanctorum for the Deity in our solar system 
plan. 

Great care is taken, from the earliest period 
when the young are capable of receiving instruc¬ 
tion on the subject of the Newtonian hypothesis, 
that the mind may not be suffered to dwell upon 
certain portions of the “ Sacred Book,” such as 
the standing still of the sun by command of 
Joshua, or where the earth is said to be 
“ without motion for ever and erer.” To lull 
the mind from dwelling upon such subjects, a 
tutor tells his pupils (I speak from experience) 
that the prophets, &c. addressed the people 
agreeably to their prejudices, and the strength of 
their comprehension at that early period of the 
world, as though the mind of man was in an 
infantine state^ incapable of receiving any thing 
beyond simple facts. Such is the sort of 
logic in use in the present day, and it may 
answer very well while under tutorship; but, 
when we come to reflect for ourselves, the case 
is different; the insidiousness becomes evident. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


133 


The intent may be to lay the imbecility on man, 
—but it actually falls on the Deity ! For the 
question is, Was He who created man's mind 
incapable of preparing it in the first instance to 
receive the impression of truth ? Was he in that 
state of incapability for thousands of years, until 
a person by the name of Newton was born, ere 
he had the power to make His works known ? 
Or rather we may say. Did he wait for thousands 
of yearSy finally to have his Word and Works 
disputed y as they are at this day ? 

Under the dominion of the science of the 
present day, the Deity is entirely cast into the 
back-ground, to make room for every operation 
to be carried on by natural and mechanical causes. 
“ Thanks to enlightenment,” even the very 
storms are no longer to be wielded by his 
hand! 

Now, with regard to the miracle which took 
place at the Red Sea, many of the learned have 
been at great pains to discover some natural 
cause hy which it was effected; but the Rev. J. 
A. La Trobe, in his interesting “ Scripture 


134 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


Illustrations'' introduces their various hypotheses 
on that subject, and proves their failure. He 
sums up his account thus,—‘‘ Could not He who 
made the sea divide it ?" By the same rule, 
it may be asked. Could not He who made the 
mind prepare it to receive the truth ? 

Our reverend author also speaks of the mag¬ 
nificent ruins of Baalbec^ which he terms one of 
the most striking monuments of antiquity. In 
alluding to these ruins, it has been the fashion 
among the universal depredators of Biblical 
history, to rob Solomon of his undoubted claim 
to those fine remains, by ascribing their merits 
to the Romans. La Trobe quotes from a recent 
traveller of integrity, whose account affords 
strong proofs of their being the real remains of 
King Solomon’s buildings; for which reason,— 
as it is always pleasant to me to remove, as far as 
may be, that contumely which the learned in 
these days cast upon the ancient Hebrews, viz. 
that they were an ignorant and uncultivated 
race,—I have great pleasure in transcribing a 
few lines on the subject of those splendid ruins. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


135 


He says—“ A late traveller asserts he has seen 
nothing in Italy equal to it.—‘ It is built of a 
compact primitive limestone; the pillars, of 
which there are four on each side, and eight at 
the extremities, are above sixty feet in height, 
composed of three pieces joined together by a 
square piece of iron, fitted in sockets in the 
centre. They are crowned by a noble architrave 
and beautifully carved cornice. The peristyle is 
covered by an arched roof of stone, cut in 
patterns, with medalHons in high relief of my¬ 
thological subjects, admirably executed. The 
door-way leading into the body of the temple is 
twenty-one feet in width; the mouldings and 
other ornaments are the richest I ever beheld. 
The entire dimensions are one hundred and 
ninety-two feet in length, by ninety-six in 
breadth.’ ” 

La Trobe likewise refers to ‘ Maundrell’s Jour¬ 
ney,’ p. 186 , where he speaks of “ ‘ a large piece 
of the old wall, or Trepl^oXos, which encompassed 
these structures: a wall made of monstrous 
“ Three Weeks in Palestine, pp. 135, 136.” 


136 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


great stones,—a curiosity^ which a man had need 
be well assured of his credit, before he ventures 
to relate, lest he should be thought to strain the 
privilege of a traveller too far. * * * Three 

of these stones we took pains to measure, and 
found them to extend sixty-one yards in length. 
That which added to the wonder was, that these 
stones were lifted up into the wall more than 
twenty feet from the ground.’ Though these 
three, lying consecutively in the same course of 
the building, are by far the largest, yet it is 
stated, the very least of the blocks of stone of 
which this gigantic platform is composed, ‘ would 
excite astonishment, were they met with else¬ 
where.’ ” 

La Trobe observes that “ Dr. Richardson, 
when speaking of these large stones, says, ‘ They 
are cut with a 'bevelled edge, exactly like the 
cutting of the stones in the subterranean columns 
of the Haram Shereef in Jerusalem, which is of 
Jewish workmanship. Indeed, the similarity of 
the workmanship struck me forcibly, and I am 
disposed to refer them both to the same people, 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


137 


and nearly to the same era. The stones are 
compact limestone, which is the common stone 
of the country ; and the soil of age with which 
they are covered, compared with the other parts of 
the building, would warrant our referring them to 
the remote period of eight-and-twenty hundred 
years, the era of Solomon, king of Israel, who 
built Hamath and Tadmor in the desert.’ 

‘ It may possibly be,’ suggests the author of 
Three Weeks in Palestine, ‘ that these are the 
remains of the house of the forest of Lebanon, 
described, l^Kings vii., as formed of costly stones, 
according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed 
with saws within and without; even from the 
foundation to the coping, and so on the outside 
toivards the great court; and the foundation was 
of costly stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones 
of eight cubits. Though these measures fall far 
short of the dimensions of the larger stones, they 
would very well tally with those of the generality 


^ “ Richardson’s Travels, ii. 503, 504.” 

“ Sawed within and without ,"—alluding to the bevelled 


edges. 


138 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


of the larger blocks of which the surrounding 
wall is composed.’ ” 

Fearing lest the above should be thought 
a solitary instance of these splendid ruins 
being attributed to king Solomon, I will quote 
from another author, of undoubted talent and 
integrity. 

Captain C. Colville Frankland, in his work 
entitled “ Travels to and from Constantinople, 
in 1827 and 1828,” made his tour as follows: 
—“ From Vienna, through Hungary, TransyU 
vania, Wallachia, Bulgaria, and Roumelia, to 
Constantinople; and from that city to the capital 
of Austria, by the Dardanelles, Tenedos, the 
Plains of Troy, Smyrna, Napoli di Romania, 
Athens, Syria, Cyprus, Alexandria,^' &c. 

In the course of this extensive tour, the author 
must doubtless have seen a variety of celebrated 
buildings and various styles of architecture. 

Captain Frankland, in the strain of all other 
travellers who have visited the incomparable 


“ Three Weeks in Palestine, p. 139.” 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


139 


ruins of Baalbec, uniting with them in their 
admiration of its 'pillars, pilasters, and Jiinely 
orname'nted doors and highly wrought entablatures, 
although few of these are now standing/’ says 
—“ hut nothing can exceed the heauty of the 
arched ceiling (composed of immense stones) 
which covers in this superh portico. It is 
divided into compartments, hexagonal and rhom- 
hoidal, the mouldings of which are carved in 
the most exquisite manner, and resemble the 
most beautiful designs upon lace or ivory. In 
each of the-compartments are, in high relief, 
heads and figures relating to the heathen my¬ 
thology ; such as Ganymede and the eagle, and 
that favourite topic of the ancients, Leda and 
the swan.” 

“ These ruins,” he elsewhere observes, ‘‘ have 
been well described by Maundrell, in his curious 
work, and beautifully illustrated by Wood and 
Dawkins.” 

I will now join the Captain at the termination 
of his long tour, or, I should rather say, when he 
had again arrived in the Italian states. 


140 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


‘‘ May 21.—We set out at half-past one to 
revive our recollections of the Eternal City.’’ 

After reviving those recollections by reviewing 
and paying a second respect to all that engrossed 
his admiration the year before, he sums up as 
follows :— 

When I compare in my mind the remains of 
Rome with those of Athens and Baalbec, I am 
somewhat struck with their poverty and insig¬ 
nificance, with the exception of the Coliseum, 
which is indeed a wonderful mass ; although I 
confess I cannot discover much beauty in it. 
There are no columns at Rome equal in size or 
beauty to those of Jupiter Olympius, or Minerva 
Parthenon, on the Acropolis; neither is there in 
the Eternal City so perfect a specimen as the 
Temple of Theseus. The Parthenon may perhaps 
he excepted from this observation; but it has 
been very much repaired and restored, while the 
Temple of Theseus has never been touched, and 
dates 2000 years ago. But Baalbec as much 
outshines Athens in the size and beauty of its 
ruinsy as Athens does Rotne” 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


141 


The question then is,—how could that possibly 
be, were either a Roman or a Grecian the founder 
and builder ? It is considered rather wonderful, 
it seems, that the erection of the Temple of 
Theseus should be dated so far back as 2000 
years; hut Dr. Richardson refers Baalbec to 
the remote period of 2800 years, ascribing it to 
Solomon ; and there has never yet been any proof 
that that king was not the builder. There have 
been of late gorgeous and extensive ruins found 
in Mexico y which date considerably farther back 
than those of Solomon in Syria. Consequently, 
the length of time can constitute no objection to 
Baalbec and Palmyra being the identical remains 
of the king of Israel’s works. Some remarks on 
the “ Corinthian capital'' falsely so called, might 
be made, which would considerably tend to con¬ 
firm the opinion that Solomon was decidedly the 
inventor of that order of architecture; but to 
enter on the subject here would lead to much 
discussion, and I shall therefore postpone it till 
another opportunity. It is, however, to be noted 
that the opinions of Richardson, Maundrell, and 


142 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


the author of “ Three Weeks in Palestine as 
well as Captain Colville Frankland^s testimony, as 
to those incomparable ruins in Syria, serve to 
place the palm of merit where it is most due; 
and this may be considered as a good omen. 
Nor need it be doubted that, in the course of a 
little time, other scriptural positions also will be 
recognised and confessed. In these sceptical 
times, when a restoration of Biblical truths is 
accomplished, it appears as though it were excited 
by a Divine impulse. 

I must begin to think of drawing this epistle 
to a close; not that the subject fails, for in the 
vindication of Holy Writ against its opposers it 
would be easy to fill some hundreds of pages. 
It may however be remarked, that the few spe¬ 
cimens given in this communication are sufficient 
to show that the efforts of those who are styled 
deeply learned are exerted in their utmost energy 
to reduce the Scriptures to a cypher. They may 
do so ; and slander the authenticity of the “ Holy 
Book,” as Wirgman styles it; but it is not quite 
so easy to prove that the appalling judgments 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


143 


denounced therein will not he executed to a tittle ! 
For it is written that even the Heavenly host and 
the Earth shall be dissolved, but the Word of 
God shall abide unchanged. May we not then 
be allowed to suppose that such may be reserved 
for the awful judgment ? when, from that period, 
there can be no change. 

With regard to controversy^ I am rather sur¬ 
prised that Dr. Prideaux should have entered 
the list of cabals, and lent his hand to the depre¬ 
dators. In his Life of Mahomet’^ he utterly 
condemns the practice of giving way to the ab¬ 
struse niceties of controversy; for, when con¬ 
templating the divisions and persecutions, &c. 
which Christians at an early period exercised 
against each other for the sake of their Creeds, 
he says—“ Having drawn the abstrusest niceties 
into the controversy, they did thereby so destroy 
PEACE, LOVE, and CHARITY, among them, that 
they lost the whole substance of their religion; 
and in a manner drove Christianity out of the 
world : so that the Saracens, taking advantage of 
the weakness of power, and the distractions of 


144 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


councils, which these divisions had caused, soon 
overran, with a terrible devastation, all the 
Eastern provinces of the Roman empire ; turned 
every where their Christian churches into 
mosques, and their worship into a horrid su¬ 
perstition, and forced on them that abominable 
imposture of Mahometism.” 

In this I coincide with the Doctor, that by 
divisions and controversies among religious sects 
they drive out of the world peace, charity, and 
cordiality; but more particularly are those con¬ 
troversies which would argue against the veracity 
of the only strong-hold we possess—the Volume 
“ which maketh wise unto salvation’^ truly repre¬ 
hensible. The same may be said in regard to 
FAITH ; it is driven out of the world by being 
enveloped in the depths of speculative science; 
which amounts to this: either the sayings of 
God, or the sayings of Newton, must be false! 
It must be observed, (and the fact is undeniable,) 
that the latter contradicts the former point blank, 
whereby speculative science passes judgment 
against God ! Hence the announcement of St. 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


145 


Paul becomes strictly applicable, when, respecting 
the sayings of God^ he, with privileged boldness, 
asserts—“ Yea, let God be true, but every 
man a liar, as it is written. That thou mightest 
be justified in thy sayings, and overcome 
when THOU art judged.” 

This, it must be recollected, was both spoken 
and v)ritten in the scientific language of the day, 
which thus gives unto our presumptive specula¬ 
tive science an avenger out of whose hand none 
can deliver it. 

The length of this Epistle will not, I believe, 
be matter of surprise to a friend with whom I 
have been, for a period of nearly twenty years, 
in the habit of interchanging sentiments on scien¬ 
tific subjects; especially when it is considered 
that a greater length of time than usual has 
elapsed devoid of the least occurrence to cause 
discussion or exchange of opinion on any sub¬ 
ject of importance. 

To the best of my recollection it is more than 
twelve months since, when, during a confinement 

L 


146 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


to my chamber by illness, you kindly broached 
a subject, the discussion of which served at least 
to divert my attention from the sufferings under 
which I then laboured. 

The conversation to which I allude related to 
the prevailing and fashionable Newtonian doc¬ 
trine of boundless space being filled (if boundless 
space can be filled) with innumerable worlds!— 
a doctrine which, it appears to me, leads into 
the vortex of atheism; for it supposes a plan 
which admits of neither beginning nor end to the 
works of creation, and, consequently, excludes 
a Creator ! 

The sentiments you then expressed on the 
subject could not fail to excite my admiration, 
and to leave a lasting impression on my mind. 
“ It is most difficult,” you observed, “ even to 
imagine a bound to space: the more we ponder 
upon it, the more the mind becomes bewildered, 
and awfully at a stand ! ” This observation was 
followed by several judicious and appropriate 
remarks, which, unfortunately, my recollection 
does not enable me to commit to paper. They 



LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


147 


were, however, too conclusive to admit of two 
opinions; and it has since occurred to me that 
as God himself declared (if there be any truth 
in Scripture), through the medium of Moses, 
his inspired penman, that “ creation was 
finished, and God saw that it was goodfi the 
immensity of space constituted no objection to, 
nor did it interfere with, a completion of the 
ivorks agreeably to the Word of God. 

Reflections of this nature led me to hope that 
something might possibly be found in the “ Holy 
Book ” to relieve the mind on this important 
point; and it appears to me that the New Tes¬ 
tament happily supplies us with a desideratum 
which throws considerable light on the object 
of inquiry ; namely, the signiflcant denunciation 
pronounced by Jesus Christ himself against 
the intruder at the marriage feast, as related 
by St. Matthew, c. xxii. v. 11—13. “ And 

when the king came in to see the guests, he saw 
there a man which had not on a wedding gar¬ 
ment : and he saith unto him. Friend, how 
earnest thou in hither not having a wedding 



148 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


garment? and he was .speechless. Then said 
the king to the servants, Bind him hand and 
foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer 
darkness,” &c. Now we are seriously to con¬ 
sider that this narrative is intended as emble¬ 
matical of the kingdom of heaven^ to which, 
therefore, its allusions must also refer, and not 
to earthly prison-houses, “ blind-houses,” or any 
thing pertaining to them; and, consequently, 
that the outer darkness spoken of by our Saviour 
is meant to convey an emblem of that state 
prepared for the departed spirits of the wicked in 
the world to come, where we are taught to 
believe rewards and punishments will be dis¬ 
tributed by the Judge of all the Earth, ac¬ 
cording to the merits of each individual! 

We have also seriously to reflect that the 
expression “ outer darkness ” gives ample range 
to the idea of immensity of space; whilst it 
decidedly proves, in my humble judgment, 
that the works of creation were finished: for 
where they are^ Light is ; where they are not, 
darkness presides, as it were, by antecedent oc- 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


149 


cupancy. It would thus seem then, that He 
wlio created both preserves both for purposes 
known only to Himself ! This wonderful se- 
paration between the region of light and that 
of darkness may be said to determine the bounds 
of creation ; for of what use would be worlds^ 
houses, animals, and human beings, if destitute 
of a single glimmering of light, and placed in 
a region where nothing could either see or be 
seen ? 

As it is not to be supposed that the material 
or colour of a garment, in the sense of wearing- 
apparel, would haye any influence in determining 
the condemnation pronounced against the intruder 
at the marriage feast, we are led to conclude that 
the Saviour King perceived in him a lack of 
righteousness and faith—of that spiritual gar¬ 
ment which alone constitutes a passport to the 
Kingdom of Heaven. Those who believe in the 
divinity of Christ will not readily adopt the 
conclusion that He was ignorant of the consti¬ 
tution of the entire system of the Universe; 
and to such I humbly submit that his declara- 


150 


LETTER TO DR. SPRY. 


tion in regard to the region of outer darkness 
ought for ever to set at rest all speculative dis¬ 
cussions with respect to an endless succession of 
solar systems in illimitable space! 

Although much more might be said upon the 
tenour of that chapter of St. Matthew which I 
have just quoted, yet I must at present refrain 
from trespassing any further upon your valuable 
time than by returning you my thanks for the 
opportunity which your favour of the 28th of 
December last has afforded me—that of adding 
one more to the number of those who receive the 
present Biblical Hebrew as authentic. 

I am, Sir, 

With great respect. 

Your obliged and most obedient servant, 

Catherine Housman. 


July, 1839. 



POSTSCRIPT. 

The receipt of a letter from an esteemed friend 
with whom I have been in the habit of ex¬ 
changing, in a pleasant way, opinions on various 
subjects, but chiefly on scriptural points, induces 
me to make a few additional remarks, and to 
transcribe the following question, contained in 
her last communication : “ What is your opinion 
of that declaration of St. Paul in which he says, 
‘ Through faith we understand that the worlds 
were framed by the word of God ? ’ ” &c. She 
then adds, “ I ask your opinion of that verse 
because it seems to favour the Newtonian hy¬ 
pothesis of a multitude of worlds^ which I know 
you condemn.’’ 

This brings to my recollection a similar 
question put to me by a reverend and learned 


152 


POSTSCRIPT. 


gentleman, in a letter dated the 26th of January, 
1838, in consequence of my having some time 
before presented to him a copy of “ Letters to 
a Friend,” and of which he did me the honour 
to speak with a degree of liberality, and even 
approbation, far exceeding my expectations, well 
knowing my learned correspondent to be a New¬ 
tonian. In this letter he asks, “ What is the 
declaration of St. Paul ?—‘ Through faith we 
understand that the worlds were framed by the 
word of God,’” &c., and then observes—“faith 
that is not in the testimony of man, but of God.” 

These questions with reference to Newton’s 
hypothesis, received through the medium of 
letters, urge me to undertake this Postscript, for 
the purpose of testing the passage in which St. 
Paul speaks of “ wmrlds;” and I hesitate not to 
promise a recantation of my former opinions with 
regard to a plurality of worlds, should the re¬ 
ferences I am about to consult lead to such a 
conviction. 

First, then, I take the 3rd verse of the 11th 
chapter of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, the 


POSTSCRIPT. 


153 


subject of the present discussion,—“ Through 
faith we understand that the worlds were framed 
by the word of God,” &c. 

The first reference is to Gen. i. 1. “In the 
beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth.” 

Why should it be said heavens and earthy if 
the earth on which we live were a roller in the 
ethereal region ? Had it been so, may we not 
suppose that Moses would have been instructed 
to say—“ In the beginning God created the 
heavens, in which the earth rolls ? ” 

Thus, then, the first reference establishes the 
of the Mosaic history of the creation, viz., 
of one earth, one sun, one moon, together with the 
stars for signs and for seasons, and for no other 
purpose. It also shows that St. Paul meant no 
others than this ivorld and that which is to come, 
agreeably to the interpretation of the Hebrews, 
who best understood their own language, and to 
whom the Apostle was directing his discourse. 
It must also be remembered that St. John con¬ 
cludes his Revelation with a reference to Genesis 


15-4 


POSTSCRIPT. 


and the tree of life, compassing, as it were, the 
entire word of God from the beginning to the 
end of the “ Sacred Book,’’ thus accumulating 
a mass of concurring testimony on the system ot 
creation, which, in my humble opinion, ought 
never to have been doubted : and the contrarv 
of which, it may be observed, can never be 
proved. 

The second reference appended to our text is to 
Psalm xxxiii. 6.—“ By the word of the Lord were 
the heavens made ; and all the host of them by 
the breath of his mouth.” I will quote some of 
the succeeding verses, as they are important to 
the present subject. — Verses 7, 8, 9. “He 
gathereth the waters of the sea together as an 
heap : he layeth up the depth in storehouses. 
Let all the earth fear the Lord : let all the 
inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 
For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, 
and it stood fastor, as it is sometimes written, 
“ without motion for ever and ever” I now come 
to the 10th verse, which demands serious con¬ 
sideration. “ The Lord bringeth the counsel 


POSTSCRIPT. 


155 


of the lieathen to nought: he maketh the devices 
ot the people of none effect.” 

These scriptural accounts, with reference to 
the 3rd verse of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews, 
(where he speaks of worlds^) relate to the prin¬ 
ciples on which the “ Divine system of creation ” 
was founded, viz., earth at rest —at God’s com¬ 
mand, it stood, not rolled. 

Plow clear and strong are the terms in which 
the counsel of the heathen is noted, alluding, as 
they evidently do, to the devices of the people, 
which were'ever founded on a sun at rest, and 
a moving earth! But their counsel, we find, was 
brought to nought, in correspondence with that 
emphatic annunciation of the Apostle Paul— 
“ Yea, let God be true.” 

I will now consider our own device, the solar 
system. Do we not ask counsel by it, and build up 
a thousand imaginary things with reference to the 
operations of God in the system of his works ? 

There is one other passage in which St. Paul 
speaks of ivorlds in his Epistle to the Hebrews, 
which it is scarcely necessary to touch upon 


]56 


POSTSCRIPT. 


here, since the verse particularly in question has 
been tested. In the 1st chapter of the Epistle, 
however, we read—“ God, who at sundry times 
and in divers manners spake in time past unto 
the fathers by the prophets. Hath in these last 
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he 
hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also 
he made the worlds. From the expression 
“ ivhom he hath appointed heir of all things ’’ we 
are referred by the margin to Psalm ii. verse 8. 
—“ Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen 
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
the earth for thy possession.” The second 
reference is to the Gospel of St. John, chap. i. 
verse 3, which runs thus:—“ All things were 
made by him; and without him was not any 
thing made that was made.” And at the 10th 
verse we read—“ He was in the world, and the 
world was made by him,” &c. 

By Christ's having been appointed heir of all 
things is intended the earth and its possessions, 
according to the Psalmist, to whom St. Paul 
refers to substantiate his text, and nothing more: 


POSTSCRIPT. 


157 


and Christ being likewise heir to the spiritual 
world or kingdom establishes, decidedly, all that 
is required—the plural number! This proves 
the Hebrews to be correct in their assertions 
of this world and that which is to come beins: 
solely understood, and solely intended, by St. 
Paul; and thus we arrive at that faith, of 
which, in his letter, my esteemed correspondent, 
the Rev. T. W., so emphatically speaks, namely, 
faith that is not in the testimony of man^ hut 
of God.*^ 

St. John, when speaking of the acts of Jesus 
Christy saying, “ He was in the world, and the 
world was made by himf ought, if the theory of 
a plurality of worlds were correct, to support St. 
Pauly by adding—“ and the multitude of worlds 
in the skies, besides the earth on which we live.^^ 
But St. John spoke by inspiration : neither 
does the royal Psalmist afford the smallest aid 
to such an interpretation. 

I have here somewhat else to note, on which 
it is probable that a question may be started. 

In the 11th chapter of the Epistle to the 



158 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Hebrews, which contains the very verse which 
caused the two questions to be put to me, there 
is, at the 11th and 12th verses, in an exposition 
of FAITH, an allusion to the constitution of the 
heavenly host.—“ Through faith Sara herself re¬ 
ceived strength to conceive seed, and was de¬ 
livered of a child when she was past age, because 
she judged him faithful who had promised. 
Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as 
good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky 
in multitude, and the sand which is by the sea 
shore innumerable.’^ 

Now let the question be asked—Is the above 
the testimony of God ? because, if it he allowed 
to be so, it refutes the assertion at verse 3, if 
by that assertion is implied those multitudes of 
worlds which the doctrine of our solar system 
creates. St. Paul must have been exceedingly in¬ 
consistent, if, in a breath, as we .may say, he 
meant to pawn upon the world two opposites at 
once, as truths! “ Stars of the skyf is his ex¬ 
pression noiu I and this sentence decidedly proves 
that he alluded to no other worlds in his 3rd 



POSTSCRIPT. 


159 


verse than—as before stated—and that ivhich 
is to come. In fact, it ought not to be supposed 
that the term worlds, used only twice by him, 
should have the power to cancel in men’s minds 
every page of the “ Holy Book,” from the 
writings of Moses to “ the Revelation of St. John 
the Divine,” where the subject of creation is the 
topic. Neither would such be the result, but 
for the vain and imaginary system of Newton, 
the truth of which never was, nor ever can be, 
proved ; for, as Babbage justly remarks, we must 
wait the'issue of our energetic measures in the 
world to come, ere we can ascertain whether it 
be right or wrong; and, when brought to the bar 
of that judgment, may we not expect that God will 
defend his own word ? Indeed, I do not hesitate 
to declare that to receive the term worlds, at 
verse 3, as comprehending the multitude of 
bodies so called by astronomers, would not suit the 
context of any chapter throughout the Scriptures; 
for it is in the constant uniformity throughout 
the whole that their strength and excellency 
consist, viz. their clasping together in one united 



160 


POSTSCRIPT. 


chain the whole of the Divine jilan: Take any 
theory, whether astronomical or geological, and, 
by bringing it into contact with the ‘‘ Divine 
revelation,'*^ it instantly becomes msignijicant; 
for the mind finds itself afloat on an ocean of 
difficulties, where not so much as a single twig, 
rooted in certainty, presents itself to catch hold 
upon. If we take geology, the commandments 
of God himself to Moses instantly become, in 
every true believer’s mind —the overcomer ! If 
we take astronomy as cherished in the present 
dav,—recall to mind the Rev. Dr. Lamb’s New- 
tonian bark, which foundered and became a 
total wreck at the Isaiahian breakers! And 
did not St. Paul, precipitating himself on “ stars 
of the sky,” reduce his worlds to Uvo ? I do 
not by this mean to infer that our famed Apostle 
ever entertained any other sentiments than those 
of condemning “ the beggarly elements of the 
world,”—philosophy and vain deceit.” I merely 
mean that, when speaking of the strong faith 
possessed by Sara, he took that opportunity of 
giving us to understand that stars were not 



POSTSCRIPT. 


161 


worlds^ thus making it obviously his care not 
to deviate from the path prescribed by his un¬ 
erring instructor —God ! 

It here occurs to me that at page 137 a few 
remarks ought to have been made upon the 
reference by the author of ‘ Three Weeks in 
Palestine/ when speaking of the ruins of Baal¬ 
bek, to the Biblical account (1 Kings vii.) of 
stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits'^ 
for the subbassmentj where he says—“ Though 
these measures fall far short of the dimensions of 
the larger stones^ they would, very well tally with 
those of the generality of the larger blocks of 
luhich the surrounding wall is composedT 

Now this leaves the Biblical account imperfect, 
respecting which, as may be supposed, I feel 
tenacious; and although it might have been 
more in place to have introduced my remarks 
where the passage is quoted, yet, as it is ever 
proper to endeavour to rectify mistakes, I will 
avail myself of the opportunity which this Post¬ 
script offers of adding a few words on the subject. 
In the first place, I suspect that the author 

M 


162 


POSTSCRIPT. 


of ‘ Three Weeks in Palestine ’ was not aware 
of the proper cubit by which those immense 
stones were to be measured. 

It is to be observed that the words in the 
book of Kings were no doubt intended as a 
general or average description of the sizes, where 
it is said, ‘‘ the foundation (or subbassment) was 
of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten 
cubits and stones of eight cubits. The form of 
the expression evidently points them out as of 
very uncommon sizes. Now had these dimen¬ 
sions -been of the lesser cubit, of one foot nine 
or eleven inches, the lengths would only have 
run from ten to eighteen feet, and such sizes 
would not have been remarkable; but the cubit 
of six feet puts the matter in a proper light; and 
its correctness is proved both by the height and 
length of the remains of the palace, as seen even 
at this day. I am therefore disposed to conclude 
that the author in question had in his mind the 
late Bishop of Peterborough’s cubit, by which the 
great Temple is made to have been about the 
size of one of our Bath Methodist Chapels I 


POSTSCRIPT. 


163 


It appears that travellers, although all allowing 
these stones to be immensely large, have never¬ 
theless varied somewhat in their admeasurements 
as to lengths. Maundrell, it seems, measured 
three which extended sixty-one yards in length, 
describing them to be “ by far the largest.’’ 

I have now before me Wood and Dawkinses 
elegant Illustrations of Baalbek and Palmyra. 
Mr. Wood, when speaking of the place from 
whence he concludes the immense stones were 
conveyed to be used in the building, observes— 
“ a quarry of free stone, near the city walls, 
from which probably the immense stones em¬ 
ployed in the subbassment of the great Temple 
were taken; while the more ornamented parts 
of the buildings were supplied from a quarry 
of coarse white marble, west of the city, and 
at a greater distance. In the first quarry there 
are still remaining some vast stones, cut and 
shaped for use.” He speaks of having mea¬ 
sured one out of three that were there: “It 
was not,” says he, “ entirely detached from the 
quarry at the bottom. We measured it sepa- 


164 


POSTSCRIPT. 


rately, and, allowing for a little disagreement 
in our measures, owing, w’e think, to its not 
being exactly shaped into a perfectly regular 
body,^ we found it seventy feet long, fourteen 
broad, and fourteen feet five inches deep.” 

It is to be remarked that the Bible says it 
was measured (i. e. the palace) by the cubit of 
the first measure, showing that there were dif¬ 
ferent cubits. The stones measured by Wood 
and Maundrell confirm the truth of the Biblical 
statement. The one measured by Mr. Wood in 
the quarry is stated to be seventy feet in length, 
which is exactly a stone of eight cubits; and 
those measured by Mr. Maundrell, and said to 
be sixty-one yards in length, w^ere stones of ten 
cubits, containing also an overplus of three feet, 
—a superabundant proof of their being stones of 
the fii'st measure; and in describing the ivall or 
subbassment he observes—‘‘ the very least of the 

^ “ Tills may be the reason why that diligent and inde¬ 
fatigable traveller, Dr. Pococke, differs from us in his measures 
of this stone, which he makes sixty-eight feet long, seventeen 
feet eight inches wide, and thirteen feet ten inches deep.” 




POSTSCRIPT. 


1G5 


blocks of stone of which this gigantic platform is 
composed would excite astonishment, were they 
met with elsewhere. 

'These, then, require no Chaldaic interpreters, 
nor aid of Ezra —they speak for themselves. 
Our Bible says there were such, and they are to 
be seen at this day to testify to its truth. The 
sceptical controversialists will find it somewhat 
difficult, methinks, to raise themselves up from 
under these weighty articles, and declare that they 
are not! Until they can do so, these magnificent 
ruins in The wilderness of the land cannot be 
attributed, with the faintest gleam of truth, to 
any other origin than that of King Solomon’s 
mighty operations, bordering on three thousand 
years ago. By degrees, no doubt, infidelity and 
falsehood, from whatever cause they may pro¬ 
ceed, are doomed to be dispelled, to make room 
for a RESURRECTION OF TRUTH. May that period 
quickly arrive to illuminate a benighted world! 

It remains for me to say a few words in ex¬ 
planation of the portrait of Jesus Christ which 



166 


POSTSCRIPT. 


is here introduced. This engraving, which is 
copied from that at page 346 of Mr. Wirgman’s 
Preface, having been ordered for a purpose which 
has since been abandoned, had become useless. 
As it has, however, occurred to me that in all 
probability some of those to whom this book may 
be presented may never have seen a Medal of the 
sort, I have determined to insert it here ; more 
particularly as I am thus enabled to rescue from 
oblivion so neatly-executed a specimen of art, 
which it is due to the engraver to state is finished 
in a style far superior to the one from which it is 
taken. Mr. Wirgman sets a high value on this 
Medal, even considering it as affording proof of 
the authenticity of the existence of Christ. 

Before proceeding to give the account of it 
which is contained in that author's volume, it 
should be observed that he had previously been 
discussing that important subject “ a Trinity 
IN Unity," the truth of which, agreeably to his 
sentiments, had been “ most convincingly 'proved " 
by the aid of Newton’s Theory of Light —even 
“ so that he ivho runs may read.” To prevent 






fWWT .\rA-\Mi'^^ .THfl^nd&y 


. 'V 






r ■' 


it '-i’ ^ '■», ”'f, "''< »■ ' 

■ ' I 'f' -l'V^‘ i 


t ■, V ! { »? 


Ei5 •■' ' W 

fe;; 

LV» ■ ‘r 

■i 








,,• : «• 1 .. “ *‘ ’•. ^ ^';;r ’ 


iy-if: '' \ 




n*r.T^' ( 


,- :• . U'-.' y'- 




'€• 


k,i • ♦ * 




V‘ ,■ ■ 


Hr 

S*4'.' 

-i 


'♦ ' 


,:.><v;;: ■ 

J* r" .-. 

< 

• f . . , ^•‘ , ^ 

.' 'r ‘ 

I*'-, 

; rx 

j 

■ i, 

t'* 

; llp'^:% 

v'^i: .4 

r’ i 

■ .' V'\«' ■ 

• -w . •■ 'k 

■ '•'»■ 

. .^l 7,’' 


■^. ;1 . 

‘ • “i* ^ 


-4 'yu-' 

7 i: ,«., J,V' 


^ -■■x:- 

'fSs'?■■■>.; i 

‘-.f* ' ■; ' 

.). - i) i_ . 

.>- 


"''T/ ,■■■;■ 

-.X' . *' 

, j* i *' 


ft,, 

:$ 



1 

. Y, 

t ; 


• 

n . • b ■ ' 



'..i-v.*,'/- "' -■ 




“ ’ ’i • * . ; 4- ‘ 


/.:y| 


' I ' 4 '■I rt* 


’% 1 Vi'V _ 

'•’.* •.- . •> 


:>.1' 




■i ‘‘*1 


Vr rJ'.' 


• k «»*■ 


. • I 





4 ' -• ' • ■ •*' .•. • - 

> 

' >"■" ■ ■ . ■ “' 

‘ ' .. . " • '. \V 


a^ 


»*> n* /' 

I'fSi; 


•"- T •■ ■ 




^('/v7 


. -1 


t'lV.k'' 




POSTSCRIPT. 


167 


any misapprehension of his meaning on a subject 
so intricate as the Trinity, which involves so 
awful and mysterious an attribute of God, it will 
be most advisable, as well as most just to Mr. 
Wirgman, to quote his own words. 

“ The discovery of the philosophy of light is 
perhaps one of the happiest circumstances that 
ever occurred for displaying to the sense of man 
a material ‘ Trinity in Unity.’ All this is effected 
by the motion of matter upon matter, and is only 
an approximation to purity. Mind, which is 
evinced by thought, then pursues this thread, 
and, by its syllogistic power, which originates in 
REASON, proves beyond belief—nay, even to ab¬ 
solute conviction,—that a spiritual ‘ Trinity in 
Unity ’ constitutes the very essence of the Author 
of Light. The immortal Newton has demon¬ 
strated that every ray or pencil of light that 
emanates from its visible author—that refulgent 
orb which diffuses its light and heat to all nature, 
not only animating but generating light and life 
to all God’s creatures—is perfectly colourless, 
and is conventionally expressed by the term 


1G8 


POSTSCRIPT. 


white. This white ray of light is ever regarded 
as a simple, uncompounded, thing. Yet this 
great Philosopher of Light has dissected this 
apparent oneness, and convinced all the world 
that this singleness is a compound of the three 
primitive colours— blue, red, yellow. 

‘‘ Is not, therefore, this sage ‘ a light to en¬ 
lighten the Gentiles ! ’ since he has taught us so 
to read the book of nature as to discover the 
great truth — that in every single thing that 
presents itself we behold the emblem of its 
‘ Great First Cause*—a Trinity in Unity. 
We have feebly attempted to do justice to this 
great enlightener of mankind in our diagram, by 
making that brilliant star of white issuing from 
‘ Jehovah *—the Creator not only of light but of 
all creation—with a view of representing the 
Unity or oneness of the three primitive colours. 
Then, indeed, we have availed ourselves of the 
prismatic colours, as taught by the great ‘ Phi¬ 
losopher of Light,’ to display these colours in 
their elementaksimplicity. So that he who runs 
may read, and thus feel in his heart the very 


POSTSCRIPT. 


169 


essence of what we are labouring to prove—nay, 
if the road we have marked out is followed, is 
most convincingly proved—that 

Every thing consists of a Trinity in Unity. 

“ How, then, dare we omit the Omnipotent, 
Omnipresent, and Eternal Being, who originates 
the principle because it constitutes its very 
essence. We need now no longer wonder that 
the ‘ Sun ’—that resplendent luminary—should 
be worshipped and adored by all the nations of 
the earth in the infancy of Science, more par¬ 
ticularly as even the minutest ray of its blessed 
light contains the germ of that stupendous Doc¬ 
trine revealed by Jesus Christ—a ‘ Trinity in 
Unity.’ Thus, then, through the medium of 
SENSE has religion been awakened in the mind, 
and ultimately confirmed by that distinguishing 
characteristic of humanity— reason.” 

He then proceeds, in reference to the Medal:— 

“ To return, however, to the proofs of the au- 
tlienticity of the existence of the ‘ Man Christ.’ 
—We have often observed the delight shown by 



170 


POSTSCRIPT. 


the antiquary and the historian on the discovery 
of some medal or ancient coin, in the hope that 
it may be made useful in settling some disputed 
point in Roman or Grecian history; and if suc¬ 
cessful in their researches their joy is complete. 
How, then, shall we hail the discovery of a Medal 
that shall place beyond dispute the existence of 
the Man Christ—a Medal worn by his disciples 
during his ministry, in token of their holy office 
—that of propagating pure Morality and founding 
Christianity ! This Medal bears the effigy of the 
‘ Saviour ’ and enlightener of mankind,^ marked 
with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, 
which was employed as a numeral, to indicate 
the first year of Christ’s crucifixion. It has also 
an appropriate inscription in Hebrew, referring to 
the labours of the Apostles. 

“ It is by the well known liberality and kind¬ 
ness of the Rev. Dr. Walsh, Chaplain to our 
Turkish Ambassador, that we are enabled to 
gratify the reader with a facsimile of this truly 

2 “ The Saviour and enlightener of mankind f assisted, seem¬ 
ingly, by “ the great Philosopher of Light ”—Newton ! 



POSTSCRIPT. 


171 


important Medal. This gentleman’s acknow¬ 
ledged skill in the investigation of ancient coins 
adds great weight to the prohahility of the above 
statement. We shall therefore give his account 
of this valuable discovery in his own words. 

“ ‘ In the year 1812, a peasant, in the county 
of Cork, in Ireland, was digging potatoes, ac¬ 
companied by his daughter, who picked them up 
as they were thrown above the ground. Among 
them she found, encrusted with clay, what she 
thought to be a large button, and, handing it to 
her father, he rubbed the edge on the sleeve of 
his coat, and in a short time it became bright, 
like gold. He now imagined he had gained a 
prize, and proceeded with it to his landlord, Mr. 
Corlett, a gentleman of Cork, of the Society of 
Friends. He further cleaned it, and found it 
to be an antique Medal of singular structure and 
device. On one side was the head of our 
Saviour, and on the other a Hebrew inscription ; 
both, however, considerably injured by time. As 
the place where the potatoes were planted had 
been the site of a very ancient monastery, coeval 


172 


POSTSCRIPT. 


with the first introduction of Christianity into 
Ireland, but of which even the ruins had long 
since disappeared, it was imagined, with every 
probability, that this Medal had been brought 
into Ireland by some of the religious com¬ 
munity at a very early period, and as such 
it was an object of great interest. Facsimiles, 
therefore, were taken from it, and sent about; 
and in a short time it excited in no slight 
degree the attention of the learned, and va¬ 
rious conjectures were made as to its age and 
origin. 

“ ‘ About this time a Medal of a similar kind 
came into my possession, obtained from a Polish 
Jew at Rostock in Germany; and, on comparing 
it with that found in Ireland, it appeared to be 
an exact counterpart, and struck from the same 
die. As it had not suffered the same injuries 
from attrition and erosion it was in a highly 
perfect state of preservation, and the letters, 
which were much injured in the former, and 
caused some obscurity in the inscription, were 
in this sharp and distinct, as when they were 


POSTSCRIPT. 


173 


struck. The bust of Christ was singularly beau¬ 
tiful : it had a pensive sublimity in its air and 
character that exactly accorded with our ideas 
of its great prototype, as if he had sat for the 
picture ; and the execution denoted it to have 
been the production of an era when the arts 
were in the highest vigour. It appeared, by a 
memoir presented with it to the Royal Irish 
Academy, that it was first mentioned by Theseus 
Ambrosius, and after him had been a subject of 
inquiry by the, learned in Europe for more than 
two centuries; that it made its first appearance 
in Rome under Julius II., when the Venus de 
Medici and other long-lost productions of ancient 
art were again brought to light; that inferior 
copies of it were multiplied, with slight varia¬ 
tions ; hut that the original was not a coin, but 
a tessera, or die, struck by the first Jewish con¬ 
verts to Christianity, and worn by them as a 
pious memorial of their Master; and, finally, 
that the date was indicated by the Hebrew letter 
aleph on the obverse, which then, as well as 
now, represented the numeral I, and indicated 


174 


POSTSCRIPT. 


that it was struck in the first year after the re¬ 
surrection. 

‘ In the annexed Medal the obverse repre¬ 
sents the head of our Saviour as described in the 
letter said to be sent by Lentulus to Tiberius; 
his hair divided after the manner of the Naza- 
renes, plain to his ears, and waving on his 
shoulders; his beard thick, not long, but forked, 
the face beautiful, and the bust fine; over the 
whole the tunic falls in graceful folds. On the 
obverse is the Hebrew letter ^ (aleph), represent¬ 
ing the numeral I, supposed to stand for the date ; 
and——Jesus. On the reverse is this in¬ 
scription on the field — 

"’ll —The Messiah has reigned ; 

he came in peace, and, being made the light of 
man, he lives. 

“ ‘ As Christianity expanded itself through the 
world its professors began to suffer those perse¬ 
cutions which had been predicted by its Divine 
Author. The first commenced under Nero, and 
was renewed with various degrees of severity till 
the reign of Diocletian, when an effort was made 



POSTSCRIPT. 


175 


to extirpate the religion of Christ, so extensive 
and persevering, that nothing less than a divine 
interposition seemed to have preserved it from 
total extinction. Diocletian was born in Dal¬ 
matia, in the year of Christ 245.; and, on the 
death of Numerianus, was saluted Emperor by 
the army at Chalcedon, near Constantinople, in 
284. He was himself a man of mild, philosophic, 
character, hut was instigated by his colleague in 
the Empire, Galerius Maximianus. This atrocious 
man was horn in Dacia: his father was unknown, 
but he himself gave out that his mother conceived, 
on the banks of the Danube, by Mars, in the 
shape of a serpent. Among other observances 
by which the Christians were now distinguished 
was their abstaining from meats offered to idols. 
This so offended the mother of Galerius that she 
made it a pretext for urging her son to persecute 
them, who was himself greatly inclined to it; and 
after much entreaty he obtained, in the year 302, 
from Diocletian, those dreadful edicts which have 
justly stigmatized the character of that Emperor. 
Armed with this authority, the Christians, who 


176 


POSTSCRIPT. 


were at this time spread over all the provinces of 
the vast Roman Empire, were every where pur¬ 
sued ; and I have visited, in the Gulf of Nico- 
media and other remote places in the East, 
caverns in the sides of nearly inaccessible moun¬ 
tains, where they endeavoured to find refuge and 
concealment during this dismal period. Many of 
the saints and martyrs recognised by the Greek 
church perished on this occasion; and they still 
show, in the church of St. Euphemia at Chalce- 
don, the implements of torture by which she and 
numbers of her friends were put to death. In 
this way historians assert that in one province 
alone seven hundred and fifty thousand Christians 
perished by various kinds of cruel deaths; and 
so complete was supposed to be the extirpation 
of the sect that coins were struck and the fol¬ 
lowing inscriptions set up, recording the fact 
that the Christian superstition was now utterly 
exterminated, and the worship of the gods re¬ 
stored, by Diocletian, who assumed the name 
of Jupiter, and Maximian, who took that of 
Hercules. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


177 


DTOCLETIANUS JOVIUS ET 
MAXIMIAN : HERCULIUS 
c^s: AUG: 

AMPLIFICATO PER ORIENTEM ET OCCIDENTEM 

imp: ROM: 

ET 

NOM : CHRISTIANORUM 
DELETO QUI 

remp: ever 

TEBANT. 

Diocletian Jove, and Maximian Hercules, Au¬ 
gust Caesars, liaving increased the Roman Empire 
in the East and West, and extirpated the Chris¬ 
tians who were overturning the republic. 

DIOCLETIAN: c^s: 

AUG : GALERIO IN ORI 
ENTE SUPER 
STITIONE CHRIST: 

UBIQUE DELETA ET CUL 
TU deor: PROPAGATO. 

To Diocletian Caesar, and Augustus Galerius, in the 
East, having every where extirpated the Christian 
superstition and restored the worshij) of the gods.’ 

N 


178 


POSTSCRIPT. 


“It is not more remarkable than true that 
the above statement is eorroborated in all its 
minutise by that celebrated letter of Lentulus. 
Every lineament of the face as here described 
corresponds exactly with the delineation on the 
Medal; nay, the very flowing of the auburn 
locks on the shoulders of the ‘ Saviour’ is faith¬ 
fully depicted: so that one would be led to 
suppose that the Medal or some similar repre¬ 
sentation lay before Lentulus while writing this 
account of the Prophet for the information of 
his government. Perhaps the ‘ Man Christ ’ 
himself struck his vision while preaching his 
sublime doctrine to the multitude, and en¬ 
forcing those divine ^precepts which he had re¬ 
ceived from his heavenly Father.^ No wonder, 

“ Divine precepts which he had received from his heavenly 
Father;” —this is as it should be; it at once refutes the 
author’s previous assumption of the wisdom and precepts of 
Christ having been learnt in Egypt in order to prepare him for 
that ministry which was to make wise unto salvation. To 
believe, indeed, that God descended from Heaven in order to 
receive instruction from any nation upon Earth is what I can 
never make up my mind to do. Josephus informs us with 
respect to Egypt that Abraham visited that land “ to confer 


POSTSCRIPT. 


179 


tlien, that the Roman Prefect was deeply im¬ 
pressed with the display of eloquence that flowed 
from the ‘Saviour;’—nay, that he even felt an 
awe and reverence for his person is evident from 
every line of that admirable letter. There can 


with their priests, (and discourse with them of divine things and 
their knowledge as touching God,) as also to follow them, if they 
were more grounded in understanding, or reconcile them, if his 
judgment were more assured than theirs ” But we learn from 
the same author that he found them “ divided into different 
sects and opinions, and through divisions incensed one against 
the other ff and that “ their opinions (different and confuted by 
theynselves) in respect to religion were most vain and devoid of 
all truth.” Is it then likely, or can it be supposed possible, 
that the Messiah was indebted for His doctrine to such a 
Babel of Error —to the professors of a theology ynost vain and 
devoid of all truth ? 

The same author informs us that Abraham would willingly 
have taught them the science of Astronomy, but they spurned 
his counsel on that important subject, and so pertinaciously 
did they maintain their own vain and idolatrous practices that 
the pious Patriarch quitted the land of Egypt in disgust. In 
fact, the judgments inflicted by God upon the science or 
idolatrous worship of Egypt are alone sufficient to prove their 
pernicious meaning. 

We may likewise remark of Moses that his being learned in 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians was but an incitement to him 
to teach the reverse ! He taught as God inspired—not as man 
fancied. 



180 


POSTSCRIPT. 


be no doubt that this official communication has 
formed the groundwork of all those represen¬ 
tations that have happily descended to us, and 
are regarded at the present day as faithful images 
of the ‘ Redeemer’ of mankind. Such corro¬ 
boration and correctness afford the most powerful 
proof of the truth of the historical record,—nay, 
absolutely overpowering proofs of the existence 
of the facts that have taken place. We are 
happy to have it in our power to lay before our 
readers this important document. 

^PUBLIUS LENTULUS, 

PRESIDENT IN .TUDEA IN THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS 

CiESAR, 

TO THE SENATE OF ROME. 

Conscript Fathers, 

There appeared in these our days a 
man of great virtue, named Jesus Christ, who 
is yet living among us, and of the Gentiles is 
accepted for a Prophet of Truth ; but his own 
Disciples call him the Son of God. He raised 



POSTSCRIPT. 


181 


the dead, and cured all manner of diseases. A 
man of stature somewhat tall and comely, and 
in proportion of body well shaped ; his hands 
and arms delectable to beliold, with a very 
reverend countenance, such as the beholders 

mav both love and fear. His hair is of the 

«/ 

colour of a filbert full ripe to his ears, whence 
downward it is more orient of colour, somewhat 
curling or waving about his shoulders. In the 
midst of his head is a seam or partition of his 
hair, after the manner of the Nazarites. His 
forehead is plain and delicate. His face, without 
spot or wrinkle, beautified with a comely red. 
His nose and mouth are exactly formed. His 
beard is thick, the colour of his hair, not of any 
great length, but forked. His look innocent and 
mature. His eyes grey, clear, and quick. In 
reproving he is awful; in admonishing, cour¬ 
teous and friendly; in speaking, very temperate, 
modest, and wise. It cannot be remembered 
that any have seen him laugh, but many have 
seen him weep. A man for his singular beauty 
surpassing the children of men.’ ” 


182 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Thus ends the account. The author remarks 
in continuation,— 

“ More proofs, surely, need not be adduced 
to convince us of a fact so well established as 
the existence of the Man Christ, or we might 
refer to other profane writers, as Tacitus, Jo¬ 
sephus,” &c. 

This I regard as pleasing intelligence. And, 
surely, if the united , testimony of what are styled 
profane writers he of itself sufficient to establish 
so important a fact as the existence of Christy — 
how much more ought the testimony of the 
Historians of the New Testament to be regarded 
as conclusive in relation to the records of their 
own nation ! 

The vast importance given to this Medal— 
interesting as it undoubtedly is—is not too great, 
if it does, as is asserted, “ corroborate and afford 
the most powerful proof of the truth of the histo¬ 
rical record — nay, absolutely overpowering proofs 
of the existence of the facts that have taken place. 
But how are we to reconcile these avowals with 
the author’s re])eated assertion that history can 







POSTSCRIPT, 


183 


never attain a higher point than possibility and 
probability ? 

At page 340 of Mr. Wirgman’s volume (the 
one preceding that at which our extracts relative 
to the Medal commenced) we read as follows :— 
“ The proof of doctrine must be the universal 
assent of all mankind ; while the highest point to 
which HISTORY can attain is merely the greatest 
degree of probability.—Certainty it never can 
attain!” 

That there is a difference between Doctrine and 
History may be readily imagined, but to me, at 
least, it is not quite so easy to conceive that the 
latter can be at once in a condition to afford 
“ absolutely overpowering proofs^^ of the truth of 
any thing, and in such a state that to “ certainty 
it never can attain! ’’ Besides, if facts constitute 
History f those facts, although the circumstances 
which they record are fleeting, are themselves 
unalterable, and, in my humble opinion, remain 
for the belief of all mankind both of the present 
and of all future generations: and thus we are 
taught to believe that we shall “ stand in our lot 


184 


POSTSCRIPT. 


at the end of our days ” in the Heavenly Temple, 
according to our Works and the soundness of our 
Faith. But it is, unhappily, too evident that the 
profane writers of antiquity have more influence 
over the minds of the learned than those of the 
sacred class : this is much to be deplored. I 
cannot, however, refrain from remarking that the 
“ doctrine” so highly thought of and prized 
has come to us through no other medium than 
that of “ HISTORY ; ” and if history be incapable 
of “ attaining to absolute certainty,” how can 
we be assured that the important “ doctrine ” 
attributed to Christ was ever really delivered by 
him?—and yet it is this “doctrine” which 
forms the groundwork of, and the principal plea 
for, the “ Divarication of the New Testament! ” 

It affords me much pleasure to be enabled in 
one instance, at least, to unite in sentiment with 
Mr. Wirgman, and to close my extracts from his 
work with the admission that incontestable truths 
are to be found in Scriptural History ! Enough ! 
It is now raised from its degradation. 

The 16th sublime Poem of King David is 



POSTSCRIPT. 


185 


styled {mechtarn), that is, bearing the stamp 

of the beaten gold of truths for so the word is 
rendered. In the margin that word is styled “ a 
goldenf of course from the precious sentences 
contained therein. In unison therewith may I 
not take the liberty of comparing the Doctrine 
and History of the New Testament to a precious 
casket and gem, both, as it were, bearing the 
same inestimable impression—both sealed with 
the stamp of Truth ? 

I am at present engaged in the perusal of a 
very interesting volume, entitled, “ Truth of 
Revelation demonstrated by an Appeal to existing 
Monuments, Sculptures, Gems, Coins, and Medals” 
By a Fellow of several learned Societies. Pub- 
lished in 1831. In this volume I find a copy of 
the Cork Medal, similar to that which I have 
here introduced. In speaking of several ancient 
and valuable Medals of a similar description, 
engravings of which, with their inscriptions, are 
contained in the work, the author remarks :— 
“ In rejecting such as these, we may be guilty of 
an unwarrantable scepticism. We do not see 


18G 


POSTSCRIPT. 


why tlii^ (alluding to Christ's) should not have 
been taken ; but we see many reasons to believe 
that such a representation of the Saviour might 
have been copied. Mr. Bagster, to whose valua¬ 
ble Biblical publications the world is so much 
indebted, has published a beautiful print, on 
steel, from a piece of ancient tapestry in his 
possession, being a profile of our Saviour, said 
to have been taken from an emerald once in the 
treasury of Constantinople, and given as a ransom 
for the emperor’s brother, taken captive by the 
Christians.” He then adds, “ Mr. Martin has 
copied this, on a very reduced scale, for our title- 
page, from Mr. Bagster’s print.” The one here 
introduced is also copied from Mr. Bagster’s en¬ 
graving, with the advantageous difference of being 
coloured in accordance with the letter of Lentulus, 
The author, Mr. Murray, further remarks in 
reference to the Medal under consideration,— 
“ We think it by no means improbable that 
some of the early Jewish converts might be 
desirous to possess a memorial of their Lord, 
in a Medal which might bear an impress of his 




a 










.^T '• • 

IW*t^ -ti- 


m 


'I , 




' Gf'f 







ftigrJifn M ^ jfl/tJ 

v* ■ 


‘f 




iiaumr 



■.Ui.f rtiV' tM 


• ^ ■ • 

,. ^ • - ■ , ,■• - o ■••,' t ^ - ■ 

, Uri« YiUSl»;-i7A^ W/ ^ U’ 

• , • I 

' 'it[^ fli iu«nt^Vfv»c 4|| : 


s»0 'Uiv l^ ..f'/’'»"Vv,! ir'^ ■>;?“? v^*' 

-s'fifij ..(;i ’v.-.-iU/i 

■ !>•';’ .-4 1 ■J-. - J.--* H 'T V* u - ’ 

'ii’jfi va.>-.>L-f . ■ "-» 


)i. 


It' lw<f^f>Th*’ ■yi4i/\wi\r m\it &yv^ 

- ' * ’ I 

, ‘.-A- .' '■ 

^lf ^> g> . vAt r/ ^/w ■ j JA' , lOfUiii'., *" ‘ 

1 « • V **— ■ ^ 4 

VI jri-4ig*» *'»‘MMA«i^ • -4- iivr g.^ 




fir 


if,i o vi’-Vl^ c»a7 n» 

'‘ 1 ■ 

'TijiiJ 'Ui>ft^ i. U4u'•,?.>»?. '-■■^;sS;1yj I'M * 




11f h 1 .’ -4, Iw.wi ^ i 


i:: 


•' 




4 ' ^ \*-(4 ,‘-'}'y,\ ,1 -'T'- !'■. , 


VERA SALVATORIS NOSTRI EFFIGIES AD IMITATIONEM 


IMAGINIS SMARAGDO INCISiE IVSSV TIBERII CiESARIS 
QVO SMARAGDO POSTEA EX THESAVRO CONSTANTINOPOLITANO 
TVRCARVM IMPERATOR INNOCENTIVM VIII. PONT. MAX. ROM. 
DONAVIT PRO REDIMENDO FRATRE CHRISTIANIS CAPTIVO. 


A TRUE LIKENESS OP OUR SAVIOUR, COPIED FROM THE POR¬ 
TRAIT CARVED ON AN EMERALD BY ORDER OF TIBERIUS 
CiESAR ; WHICH EMERALD THE EMPEROR OF THE TURKS AF¬ 
TERWARDS GAVE OUT OF THE TREASURY OF CONSTANTINOPLE 
TO POPE INNOCENT THE EIGHTH FOR THE REDEMPTION OF 
HIS BROTHER, TAKEN CAPTIVE BY THE CHRISTIANS. 
















POSTSCRIPT. 


187 


‘ visage,’ and that such Medals did exist, though 
both Celsus and Origen might be ignorant of 
them. In these remote periods, even in the 
paintings and sculptures of Thebes, much more 
in those of Greece and Rome, their statues and 
pictures were correct likenesses, and were mul¬ 
tiplied without reserve. Besides, there was 
another source which might supply such a 
Medal, altogether irrespective of the early Chris¬ 
tians. Scarcely an event occurred, of great 
moment, that was not commemorated on a coin 
or medal. So remarkable a history of events 
as those which occurred in Judea would not 
pass by, we may be perfectly sure, without some 
commemoration. It is highly probable,” he 
proceeds, “ that the governor of Judea would 
send Tiberius and the Roman Senate a repre¬ 
sentation of the illustrious individual who was 
the author of that ‘new religion’ which, ac¬ 
cording to their own account, had ‘ turned the 
world upside down.’ ” 

These appear to me to be strong reasons 
for settling the fact of the genuineness of 


188 


POSTSCRIPT. 


this Medal, and renouncing the thought of its 
spuriousness; and, admitting this, there cannot 
be a more interesting portrait to look upon! 
Mr. Murray observes with respect to its an- 
tiquity, —“ The absence of the nimbus, or halo, 
which encircled the heads of saints in the seventh 
century, affords some presumption of its priority 
to that period.” 

The same author, in continuation, in order to 
strengthen the cause he espouses regarding the 
Medal in, question, introduces facsimiles of 
others struck in commemoration of certain 
earthquakes which occurred in Asia, apparently 
connected with that one which took place at 
the Saviour’s crucifixion. 

I give his account of them in his own words; 
(his book contains plates of the objects of which 
he treats.) 

“ In Plate III., fig. 28, we give a facsimile 
of the reverse of a very rare and valuable Medal 
of Tiberius, for which we are indebted to the 
friendly courtesy of H. H. Williamson, Esq., of 
Greenway Bank, (Newcastle, Staffordshire,) in 


POSTSCRIPT. 


189 


whose interesting collection of coins and medals 
it is. This Medal, all antiquarians agree, was 
struck by Tiberius upon the event of the de¬ 
struction of the thirteen cities of Asia, by the 
earthquake which took place at the time of our 
Saviour’s crucifixion. On the obverse is the 
head of Drusus, without a laurel, and the legend, 
‘Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus Imp:’ 
on the reverse, Nero Claudius Drusus is seen 
sitting, robed, in a curule chair, with various 
spoils disposed around him, holding in his right 
hand a branch, and in his left a scroll of parch¬ 
ment. The legend on the reverse is ‘ Ti. Clau¬ 
dius CiESAR Aug. P. M. T. R. P. Imp. P. P.’ 
This Medal is so extremely rare that Matthew 
Dean, Esq., Dr. Mead, Snelling, and others, 
value it at twenty pounds, or at the option of 
the possessor.” He then observes,— 

“ Some suppose that the earthquake which 
took place at the Saviour’s crucifixion was felt 
over all the world—a supposition extremely pro¬ 
bable: others confine it to the land of Judea. 
Dreadful must have been the convulsion which 



190 


POSTSCRIPT. 


rent the veil of the temple from top to bottom 
—a fact mentioned by Josephus. St. Cyril of 
Jerusalem says, that the rocks of Mount Calvary 
which were rent by this earthquake were still 
evident and pointed out in his time. Orosius 
considers this earthquake to have been the very 
same which overturned the twelve cities of 
Sardis, Magnesia, Masthene, ^gae, Hierocse- 
sarea, Philadelphia, Tmolus, Cyma, Myrina, 
Apollonia, and Hyrcania; to which Eusebius 
adds Ephesus. Pliny and Strabo describe this 
earthquake to have been the most dreadful ever 
felt. Tiberius began to reign a.d. 14, and died 
A.D. 37, OY four years subsequent to the resur¬ 
rection of Christ. At the period of this earth¬ 
quake he must have been seventy-three years 
old; and the appearance of the head on the 
obverse of the Medal (the reverse of which we 
have given) is that of age.” (It appears so on 
the plate.) ‘‘ It may also be stated, that there 
were other Medals struck, in acknowledgment 
of the care which Tiberius took in rebuilding 
the cities of Asia destroyed by this earthquake. 


POSTSCRIPT. 


191 


On the obverse, the emperor is represented sit¬ 
ting in a curule chair, as in the one given, with 
the legend ‘ Civitatibus Asi^ Restitutis and, 
on the reverse, the legend merely—‘ Tiberius 
CiESAR Divi Aug. Filius Augustus Pont. 
Max. Trib. Pot. XXL’ The event of a dreadful 
earthquake is thus attested; and this is the only 
period to which we can reasonably refer this 
earthquake. Tiberius died four years subsequent 
to the crucifixion of our Saviour ; and we no¬ 
where read of the destruction of the cities of 
Asia prior to this dreadful tragedy.” He pro¬ 
ceeds :—‘‘ From combined testimony—Christian, 
Jewish, and Pagan—a terrible earthquake oc¬ 
curred at the crucifixion : the rocks were con¬ 
vulsed and torn ; the veil of the temple of 
Jerusalem was rent in twain; and thirteen of 
the finest cities of Asia overturned. We also 
collect from Pagan authorities that the loss of 
life was great, because the earthquake occurred 
when it was dark. If the preternatural darkness 
extended over the eastern hemisphere—and it is 
likely it would extend as far as the effects of the 





192 


POSTSCRIPT. 


earthquake were felt in Asia, at any rate,—there 
is a curious circumstantial corroboration of the 
event. It was at the ninth hour, or three o’clock 
in the afternoon, when our Saviour said, ^ It is 
finished ; ’ and, ‘ cried with a loud voice, and 
gave up the ghostat this moment the earth 
shuddered, and nature heaved in agony. In 
Matthew, c. xxviii. ver. 2, it is stated that there 
had been a great earthquake. That there was 
darkness over all the land, and a great earth¬ 
quake, is also recorded by Phlegon, the Trahan, 
freeman to Adrian. Tralium was not far from 
Palestine : and when one of the oracles was 
consulted on the subject of this darkness, it is 
recorded to have replied—‘ Either the God of 
nature is suffering, or he sympathizes with one 
who does.’ ” Mr. Murray then emphatically 
inquires,—“ Why did the sun put on such deep 
mourning—an eclipse which the heavens had 
never witnessed before ? Why did the temple 
tremble, and an invisible hand rend the veil 
which concealed the ‘ Holy of Holies ? ’ Why 
did the earth rock so dreadfully ? Let the cen- 


POSTSCRIPT. 


193 


turion, and they that were with him, give their 
evidence : ‘ Truly this was the Son of God/ ” 

It was not a little pleasing to me, as may be 
readily supposed, to find that a scientific and 
talented author — a fellow of several learned 
societies — had quoted the identical evidence 
which I had done, prior to my having read his 
book. 

The excellent extracts which I have given from 
that book will, it is hoped, appear sufficiently 
conclusive to satisfy any impartial mind of the 
certainty of all that is related in Scripture con¬ 
cerning the Saviour. 

From among Mr. Murray’s numerous and good 
remarks respecting Scripture, I have much plea¬ 
sure in quoting one or two. At page 122, 
speaking of the investigations and new discoveries 
of Geologists, he says, “ Every successive inves¬ 
tigation, and every new discovery, weaken the 
speculations of Geologists ; which are, at the 
present moment, only, at best, ‘ a bowed wall and 
a tottering fence: ’ and though they may, for a 
little longer, be able to satisfy themselves on tlie 


o 



194 


POSTSCRIPT. 


principles of ‘ geological logic,’ we doubt whether 
they will be able to convince others. None who 
are capable of reflecting will be disposed to 
abandon Revelation, the credibility of which is 
adamant at every link, for the fooleries of a 
sceptical geology; and if there are any who, on 
a calm survey of geological facts, can discover a 
solitary one counter to the palpable truths of the 
Mosaic cosmogony, his opinion is at antipodes 
with our own ;—we view things through media 
that are altogether different. Truth will instantly 
convince us.” Again, at page 254,—alluding to 
the disciples of “ Socinianism ” and “their 
IMPROVED VERSION of the ,‘New Testament,’ 
which, in the several editions it has passed 
through, has actually changed its hues hke the 
chameleon —he observes, “ We had supposed 
that the great distinguishing characteristic of the 
Scriptures was their immutability ; that they 
did not change with the seasons, or with 
changing man ; nay, in our simplicity, we had 
concluded that this feature was essential to the 
character of truth.” Again, “ Variability be- 



POSTSCRIPT. 


195 


longs not to truth, the standard of which, in its 
very nature, is without change.’’ 

These are excellent sentiments in vindication 
of Holy Writ. And I may be allowed to remark 
that if the adamantine rock of Revelation be suf¬ 
ficient to condemn the Socinians for their de¬ 
viations from that standard of truth, which, in its 
very nature, is without change, it must not only 
strike with equal force against geological logic, 
but also against our astronomical logic. For the 
solar system cannot possibly be true, if it be 
tested by the rides of unchangeable truth, —seeing 
that its numerous votaries have ever had various 
modes of explaining many, and those important, 
parts of it: for instance, the sun has been some¬ 
times considered a dark earth with a luminous 
atmosphere, sometimes a ghhe oi fire, sometimes 
hot and sometimes cold, sometimes quick and 
sometimes slow !—whilst the whole stands on 
nothing better than imaginings, supposings, ifs, 
and probabilities, without any thing wliich amounts 
to a clear demonstration of the assumptions that 
are made. But, above all, \t^ foundation resting 


196 


POSTSCRIPT. 


on a deviation from Scriptural testimony and the 
evidence of the senses removes it far away—and 
that instantaneously — from immutable truth ! 
Should it not, then, be an object for strict in¬ 
quiry among the learned, and more particularly 
among the dignified members of the church, to 
ascertain by investigation, for the good of the 
world and true wisdom, how far the principles and 
the doctrine of our system of the sun are in unison 
with that peculiar Word of which St. John speaks 
in his Gospel, when treating on The divinity, 
humanity, and office of Jesus Christ,'' where he 
says, (chap. i. verses 1, 2,) “In the beginning 
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and 
the Word was God. The same was in the be¬ 
ginning with God ; ” alluding to Christ, he 
having been styled the Word ? By this impe¬ 
rative Word let the principles and the doctrine 
of astronomical science be tested, and, if they 
accord not with it, let them meet with their 
desert, i. e., he scouted as profane and infidel in 
their nature. I am, likewise, decidedly of 
ojiinion that the presumptuous epitaph placed 




POSTSCRIPT. 


197 


over the remains of Newton should be removed 
from under the roof of that sacred sanctuary, 
Westminster Abbey. For to announce, as it does, 
that “ Nature and Nature^s Laws lay hid in 
night ’’ during thousands of years, — waiting, as 
it were, until that identical astronomer should be 
born, when Light should for the Jii'st time dawn 
upon the world,—is shamefully to cast the Cre¬ 
ator of heaven and earth, together with his 
Messiah, into a dungeon of darkness —to stig¬ 
matize them as Ignoramuses and Imbeciles! It 
should be remembered that “ God said. Let there 
be light: and there was light; ” in instantaneous 
obedience to the fiat. Pope’s muse must have 
been lost in a mist, when she thought any other 
necessary. So much for speculative science, with 
its sun images, ruling Baals, and systems of which 
they are the support. 

If we consult the Saviour as the divine and 
infallible oracle, we may, I think, obtain some 
insight into the intent of these sun images — scien¬ 
tific desolators ,—and it will be found that he 
perfectly understood what such objects were 




198 


POSTSCRirT. 


meant to convey to the minds of their original 
framers. In the 24th chapter of St. Matthew 
“ Christ foretelleth the destruction of the temple,'"^ 
together with various other things, such as the 
decline oifaith, the abounding of iniquity, and the 
cause of desolation, all which are to take place in 
the latter days. With regard to the first two, 
their prevalence at this very time fully indicates 
that those days have already arrived. Verses 12, 
13, 14, and 15, in this chapter, treat of things 
apparently now in progress. Verse 12 touches 
on the decline of faith: “ and because iniquity 
• shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold,’’ 
— which may fairly, I think, be interpreted 
somewhat thus: —That, by the abundant ma¬ 
noeuvring and specious reasonings of the learned, 
—by their propping up one species of science 
and another, all having for their basis a contempt 
of God^s Word,—Faith sickens, becomes faint, 
waxeth cold, and ready to expire! Verse 13: 
“ But he that shall endure unto the end, the 
same shall be saved,” alludes, we conclude, to 
the maintaining of faith, in spite of the deceitful 


POSTSCRIPT. 


199 


lo(jic of the beggarly elements of the world, and 
promises that by so doing salvation is to be 
attained. Verse 14: “ And this Gospel of the 
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a 
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end 
come/’* seems to be a most important an¬ 
nouncement of our Saviour. The whole world 
is thereby challenged to be attentive ! 

The next two verses contain the injunction— 
“ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of 
desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, 
stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him 

understand :) Then let them which be in Judea 

I 

^ The expression ** and then shall the end come ” is thus 
explained in Daniel ix. 24 :—“ Seventy weeks are determined 
upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the trans¬ 
gression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconcilia¬ 
tion for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness,” 
&c. This will be preparatory to the ushering in of the 
Messiah’s righteous kingdom, at the restoration of the Is¬ 
raelites to their native land, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, 
—at which time no branch of science of which the prin¬ 
ciples and doctrine are out of the pale of truth and integrity 
will be permitted to exist. Were such allowed to remain, the 
“ transgression” would not be finished, nor “ an end of sins ” 
be made. 



200 


POSTSCRIPT. 


flee into the mountains ”— as a refuge, I pre¬ 
sume, from the impending wrath. A little further 
on, in the same chapter, and connected with the 
same transgression, or, rather, announcing the 
calamities which should take place in conse¬ 
quence of that peculiar transgression—the abo¬ 
mination of desolation, —we read: “For then 
shall be great tribulation, such as was not from 
the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor 
ever shall be. And except those days should be 
shortened, there should no flesh be saved : but for 
the elects’ sake those days shall be shortened.” 

This, then, is the awful denunciation pro¬ 
nounced against that something of an idolatrous 
nature — that “ abomination of desolation ” — 
which is so pointedly spoken of in verse 15, 
which I again quote, on account of its reference 
to a passage in Daniel, which throws the desired 
light upon the nature of that desolating trans¬ 
gression : “ When therefore ye shall see the 

abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel 
the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso 
readelh, let him understand.)” In accordance 




POSTSCRIPT. 


201 


with this indication, a reference to Daniel ix. 27 
leads to the wished-for disclosure. It will be 
sufficient for my purpose to quote part of that 
verse—“ and for the overspreading of abomina¬ 
tions he shall make it desolate.” In the margin 
I find,—“ or, and upon the battlements shall he 
the idols of the desolator —thus showing what 
were the causes of Jerusalem's desolation I 

We have now to inquire of what nature and 
description were those idols styled by our Sa¬ 
viour “ the abrnnination of desolation f which He 
notes in his “ Gospel of the kingdom ” as being 
of so heinous a nature, and so decidedly to be 
shunned. I will give a description of one or two, 
agreeably to the original tongue, and likewise an 
engraving which will suffice to show the sort of 
objects which adorned, or rather defiled, the 
battlements of the once holy Jerusalem. It is to 
be observed that their sun images were of various 
forms, yet all of them indicating systems of re- 
volvency. In fact, they were the originators of 
all orrery machinery and systems of the sun. 


202 


rOSTSCRIPT. 


But to our description of these sun images, 
agreeably to the original tongue. 

In the second book of Kings it is said, “The 
men of Cuth made {Nergal).'' The word 
(Ner), as a noun, signifies a light, and (gal) 
to revolve; therefore Nergal, the idol of the men 
of Cuth, denoted the solar fire or light, considered 
as causing the revolution of the earth, &c. “ The 
Avites made pr\^n {Tertek),^' The word Tertek 
is a compound of ter, to go about or explore, and 
pr\*^ (retek), to swathe, gird round, as with a 
chain. It was intended to denote the heavens, 
or celestial fluid (according to their idea), as 
carrying the earth and planets about in their 
orbits. Hence, we have another solar system in 
the idol Tertek. There is likewise a Babylonish 
idol called {Merodach or Miredach). The 

word is a derivative from {yarad), or rTTl 
(radah), to descend, and HD'l {dacah), to break 
in pieces: and by prefixing the letter mem, it 
forms the noun {Miredach): by that name 

the idolaters intended to express the material 


rosTscRiFr. 


203 


spirit, or gross air, which they considered as 
descending from the extremity of the system to 
the solar fire, and there being broken or ground 
to atoms. Here we have another ruling Baal — 
a sort of renovator and destroyer. 

What says the prophet Jeremiah to this when 
pronouncing the judgment of Babylon ? “ De¬ 
clare ye among the nations, publish, and conceal 
not, say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, 
Merodach is broken to pieces; her idols are con¬ 
founded ; * * * for the day is come, the time 
of their visitation; the voice of them that flee 
and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare 
in Zion the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance 
of his temple.” 

It is clearly perceptible that these scientific sun 
images interfere with our sacred sanctuaries. By 
obtruding their hypothetical visages into the world, 
they cause the Almighty to withdraw his presence 
from our temples, and to wreak his vengeance 
upon them. His laws change not. That which 
was sin in ancient days is the same sin now: for, 
as Mr. Murray justly remarks, “ the standard of 


204 


POSTSCRIPT. 


truth is WITHOUT change and so it will last 
as long as the world endures. Can it be ex¬ 
pected that our devotions and prayers offered in 
the church on the sabbath dav can ascend as 

V 

incense unto God, when both priest and people^ 
with but few exceptions, permit their hearts and 
souls to be in captivity at the solar altar ? 

I believe that the annexed plate will give a 
clearer idea of the intent of the objects of the 
present inquiry than any written description. 
The Assyrian idol called {Nisroch) is, as we 

perceive, a crowned statue, sitting on a throne, 
with the left hand extended, holding a sun; the 
right hand resting upon a wheel, emblematic of 
revolvency. The word {Nisroch) is fre¬ 

quently used for overseers, or presidents, over 
inferior governors. Consequently Nisroch was 
considered equivalent to Baal-Melech, that is, 
the king, the ruler. Baal-Melech was a general 
name in the Assyrian dialect for the solar fire : — 


^ From the root -[ID (Sarach), signifying to abound in 
superfluity. 



2 lu/igs r. XIX. 


As lie -vvas worsliippine; in the house of 
Nisrochhis god. Adraniinelech smote him 
witii the sword. 




























































R • 

Mi’ 

LU- 

r > 


f ^ 

E 

I p 


;r:: , ■ 

•V 

• • . I 

:• . 




f'i'>.<'''• .ri"', 

— . f<* *• t* •^;l .. ^P/Vf«' 


*rT» 


i' 


< ■ - »)•,' 

■‘.*’jLr ' 










p 9^ t . f *, ' • 

- .'*!'■ • ■■ - ' ' 

•A.M''-. "•? 4'4V'; ? '■>..va.. 




' hi*?i£'-''- 


5^- -' 



■♦0‘t 


[• * 


■n 




H; 


4 r •:- A' - -A 
r t 

-'.Wy 


> w 








^r-T. 







m 




P 




,1' 

■ i, 





'.5 


KSI 'J^'‘l^'’ ,. 

^ .«w -t^, 

'•'. fc» ■ ■ ^ I 





* L 


m 


<arT 


•- 




*. 


iVV/i'a 


■ lT 

., ..'?v. 

^3 . ’V>j,,j!8| 


0 7^ • • ■ ^ ^ 

' -- <!’>r _1 




k’ ->:l 








4* f 


V ^^J 


<»„ /• 


- 9 ‘ '\* 


',’' JAiM 

.' *' 







,,4.' .1*: 


* V ,‘'- . • ^c--.' ■'* 


,\ 


■Jf]' ', *^' • *T' 


fe'S* tk / 




'■f V- 













* . ■ - 

*'UT] 


1 , .'•> •' '4' Ft ;<■ 

f.v;-...,;, ^,p^, 

_ , IT .t P - T ; »• ; 


4^ ' 

V - A 
















SBennett^c 


J.KIN^GS U Verfe 7 
^'^Ae'/v fZ/d dtu/d- am' 

^er C/ie'Tftojliy a/'d???2Ay7ta/oo7Z/7/lott/' 

^7? 777 jTia/^ cd Te^are fa7e??Zy efy. 



0 


































































POSTSCRIPT. 


205 


hence we have another system of the sun in 
Nisroch. 

Now I would ask with respect to Nisroch —its 
intent and meaning as a solar ruler, a president, 
and the cause of revolvency to inferior planets — 
where is the difference between it and our portable 
orrery, except in form ? The Assyrian hypothesis 
of the system of creation is on the identical prin¬ 
ciples of the Newtonian. If instead of the centre 
pole of our portable orrery, on which we fix the 
sun, a little platform were raised, and a croivned 
statue —an emblem of the sun —seated thereon, 
it would not incommode or alter the meaning of 
the machinery; in fact, the left hand resting upon 
a WHEEL is merely a substitute for the rods and 
claspers attached to the centre pole of our orrery, 
in order to carry round the planets when the 
machinery is set in motion. 

King Solomon also became a delinquent, as 
exhibited in the engraving. Here is seen a 
crowned ruler, with his emblem of dominion (i. e. 
sceptre) in the left hand, whilst in the right he 
wields six stars or planets, showing himself to be 




20G 


POSTSCRIPT. 


a Baal the 7'uler. Having dominion over the 
planets is equivalent to the wheel. In the back 
ground are other sun images, with probably 
scraps of zodiacs, such as Libra, which indeed 
I have myself seen in some plates representing 
the Heathen gods. It may probably be said by 
the devotees of speculative science of the present 
day that they do not kneel, or look up with such 
devout admiration, to their sun image, the orrerij, 
as the now degraded king appears to do to his. 
In reply to this I would ask,—when they enter 
their lecture-rooms, where their sun image is set 
up, in the solemn period of Lent, to what does it 
amount short of devout admiration ? Does it 
not become a solemn assembly, convoked by some 
lecturer, as though the subject of his intended 
declamation were the sublimest of all sublime 
instructions ? Their hand-bills of invitation are 
very generally addressed with all due respect to 
the real philosopher and the Christian, as though 
a hypothetical system of creation, founded on a 
Baal the rider, could possibly be any embellish¬ 
ment to the pure tenets of Christianity; more 


POSTSCRIPT. 


207 


particulai'ly when those who will take the trouble 
to search in the right place may find it proved 
that Christ himself has denounced all those 
erections significant of the heavenly host, founded 
on a stationary and ruling sun, as the idols of 
THE DESOLator ! Aiid most tremendously, ac¬ 
cording to Him, will the rod of the Almighty's 
wrath fall upon the world, on account of that 
heinous transgression I 

I have a few more words to say on the subject 
of Solomon’s delinquency. Scripture states that 
“ Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of 
the Zidonians, and after (Milcom), the 

abomination of the children of Ammon:” — by 
reason of which he “ did evil in the sight of 
the Lord,” &c. 

I should not again have adverted to this sub¬ 
ject, had it not been in order to explain to my 
relative, the Rev. Dr. Boyle, of Boston, United 
States,—to whom it is my intention to present 
a copy of this letter,—my opinion as to the nature 
of the defection of the Hebrew King. To the gen¬ 
tleman to whom thijB letter is addressed this would 


I'OH'I’HCIM I'T. 


‘2()H 


liav(^ luM'n miiu^(;(vss5iry, its, soiih; years ae:(), when 
a lecturer on lh(M)rrery ari iv(‘(l at Ihith during; t Ik; 
period of Lent, announ(;inp; his inUaition ol’ deli¬ 
vering:; a course of leclures on “ Diahtrodoxkn,” 
(Idr so his hand-hill of invilation stated,) a (;on- 
versalion o(;(;urred hetween us, in the (;ourse of 
which I F’canarlvcd, “ / am, (/uifa aslonishad Uial 
any learned leciurer should so openly deed,are Iris In- 
lenlion of leeluriny 071 , <tnd advoeitliiK/y ISolot/iords 
idolalry—Ihal Identical inlsdemeanour udrledi, caused 
Iris Iciiujdota in part to he arrested from Irirnd* 
After a few (|ueslions as to tlu; purport of niy 
ohservalion it was a!i;r(‘ed that the si|:;niti(;ation of 
Ashlor(‘th in the original longue should he written 
down: I did this, and plac('d it under the inH[)ec- 
tion ol my medical Iriend, wluai he appeared 
satisfied with its corix;ctness. As, however, I 
should have had to rc'ply to souk; (|U(;stions lately 
put hy Dr. Boyle, I emhraee the opportunity ol 
repc'aling my explanation here; ; and I trust that 
he will perceive that many othei* portions, like¬ 
wise, of the present c‘pistle are int(*nd(‘d cpiitc; as 
much for himself as for the gentleman to whom 


POSTSCRIPT. 


209 


it is addressed: and for this reason,—a great 
portion of it relates to subjects which it is pe¬ 
culiarly the province of a Theologian to reflect 
upon, and to test with an impartial mind, unwarped 
hy any science except that of God’s Word. 

But to the derivation of this said word Diastro- 
doxen: it is derived from the word '’I ^ (daye), 
which denotes enough, sufficiency, plenty, or the 
like. It is spoken either of quantity or capacity ; 
hence the Greeks derived their AIX (Dis), whence 
(Latine) Deus or Divus, the name of their all- 
sufficient God, the air or heavens. {asta- 

red) signifies propelling, or impulsive, flre, consi¬ 
dered, according to the hypothesis and statute 
of the heathen, as causing the revolution of the 
planets. And the last syllable of this above- 
mentioned compound of such dubious integrity is 
from the Hebrew word {gnetz) or ignoz), 

^ Hence the glorious name of God, — {El 

shaddaye), the strong, all-sufficient, God,— the word 
{shaddaye) importing, tvho is s^tfficient; it is composed of the 
particle sheen (the middle letter of the relative pronoun 
who), and this primitive '’1 daye, all-sufficiency. 


P 


210 


POSTSCRIPT. 


which signifies an ox. It is so called from the 
bony strength of that animal, which also com¬ 
pletely classes it among the tribe of Baalim. The 
compound word (i. e. Diastrodoxen) 

is literally the prevailing or vigorous God, Asto- 
reth the Ox. 

It would be time ill spent, or I could bring 
forward many more appellations of the same 
class, and bearing the same meaning. In enu¬ 
merating the few I have selected, I can, without 
the least hesitation, pronounce concerning them 
that whether it be a Nergal, a Tertek, a Miredach^ 
a Nisrochy an Ashtorethy or DiastrodoxeUy system 
of the BuUy it matters not:—they closely tally 
in meaning and intent. They are systems of the 
Heavens on one and the same principle. Even 
Egypfs minor Osiris, in neat though significant 
simplicity, ranks, and stands upon a par with, 
any solar system in the ivorld that ever was 
or ever will he erected, let it be lectured 
upon as elaborately as it may; for all such 
lectures are neither more nor less than an en¬ 
deavour to prove the truth of the assumption 








4 


POSTSCRIPT. 


211 


that the sun is a fixture and the cause of re- 
volvency. They are like what the Scripture 
styles calves. Parkhurst remarks—“ Jeroboam, 
after he had, for political reasons (see 1 Kings 
xii. 27, &c.), made a schism in the church, and 
set up his two calves in Dan and Bethel, as 
objects of worship, is hardly ever mentioned 
in Scripture but with a particular stigma set 
upon him — Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, ivho 
made Israel to sin.” To this it may be added, 
that if the son of Nebat made Israel to sin ,— 
the son of any one else, erecting similar hypo¬ 
theses, causes his followers to sin likewise. 

I will add a few remarks upon the grand 
transgression of the wilderness—the worship of 
the molten calf. I have seen its form represented 
in a most splendid and ancient book of the 
Passover as a simple pillar surmounted by a 
sun,—quite as simple and unadorned as the 
minor Osiris, —which makes it highly probable 
that, since the erection took place so early 
after the Exodus from Egypt, a pillar, and not 
the image of a real calf, was the figure which 




212 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Aaron was compelled to make in order to ap¬ 
pease the idolatrous portion of the multitude. 
However that might have been, — whether a 
molten pillar of gold^ or a molten calf, in proper 
form, of the same material,—it matters not;, 
both being, as I have repeatedly said, of one 
stamp and meaning. It is also curious to note 
how every little thing, although seemingly in¬ 
significant, will, by keeping in the regular train 
of research, be found to bear a correspondent 
meaning when connected with the calf in ques¬ 
tion ; for be it remembered that the calf was 
fabricated of golden ear-rings, which were as 
little wheels, i. e., revolvers, prior to their being 
molten, and were therefore partly prepared (at 
least in signification) for the ensuing transgres¬ 
sion. When we say prepared in signification, it 
is to be understood that when revolvency, which 
naturally (agreeably to God’s word and the evi¬ 
dence of the senses) belongs to the sun, was 
about to be made the cause, not the actor, it 
instantaneously became a transgression —an abo¬ 
mination of desolation! 



POSTSCRIPT. 


213 


I proceed now to consider the gold used in the 
fabrication of the calf. Rabbi Solomon Jarchi 
remarks in his commentaries on the dress of the 
high priest that when he entered the Holy of 
Holies^ on the day of atonement, he was not 
allowed to have on his dress any metal whatso¬ 
ever, on account of the transgression of the 
golden calf, because (says he) 

“ No persecutor or Satan can make a 
friendly advocate alluding to the metal of 
which the calf was made. 

It thus appears that the high priests of the 
Jewish nation were so deeply sensible of the 
heinous nature of their transgression as not to 
allow any thing which was associated with it to 
touch even their dress, much less to admit a 
thought of that bewitching sin to dwell in their 
minds, when they entered the most holy place 
of that tabernacle which had been made with 
hands, which was (as St. Paul pointedly remarks) 
but \he figure of the true” holy place—the 
sacred dwelling of God himself—into which, 
according to the Apostle, Christ had already 



214 


POSTSCRIPT. 


entered. How satisfactory it is to find the same 
spirit thus pervading the New as the Old Testa¬ 
ment,—evincing the former to be founded on 
the latter, and establishing the veracity of 
both! 

Having spoken of Egypt's minor Osiris, (that 
convenient little cause of the revolution of the 
planets,) it appears to me advisable, in order 
to give every possible insight into the nature 
of the transgression in question, to advert also 
to the flying roll of which the prophet Zechariah 
gives, in his fifth chapter, so clear and luminous 
an explanation—it being an emblem of the Gelgel 
of the earth. In the summary of the contents 
of that chapter reference is made only to two 
verses (the first and fifth) out of the eleven 
which it contains.—“ 1. By the flying roll is 
shewed the curse of thieves and swearers. 5. 
By a woman pressed in an ephah, the final dam¬ 
nation of Babylon." —I will now transcribe the 
verses, considering each division of the chapter 
separately. 

Verse 1. “ Then I turned, and lifted up mine 





POSTSCRIPT. 


215 


eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. 
2. And lie said unto me, {i. e. the accom¬ 
panying angel,) What seest thou? And I an¬ 
swered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof 
is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten 
cubits. 3. Then said he unto me. This is the 
curse that goetli forth over the face of the whole 
earth : for every one that stealeth shall be cut ofl‘ 
as on this side according to it; and every one 
that sweareth shall he cut off’ as on that side 
according to it.” 

Instead of “/or every one that stealeth, &c. 
we read in the margin: “ or, every one of this 
people that stealeth holdeth himself guiltless as it 
doth.” 

Now it is to he observed that although this 
flying roll is a curse, yet that curse or wicked 
thing holdeth itself guiltless. It is, in fact, ap- 
plicahle to the advocates of the theory of the 
earth’s motion holding themselves guiltless al¬ 
though inimical to the Law of God. 

Verse 4. “ I will bring it forth, saith the Lord 
of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the 


216 


POSTSCRIPT. 


thief, and into the house of him that sweareth 
falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the 
midst of his house, and shall consume it with 
the timber thereof and the stones thereof.” 

It is thus evident that wheresoever this curse 
enters^ it is a complete Destroyer ! I do not un¬ 
dertake to follow, and comment on, the references 
belonging to this verse, with those ensuing there¬ 
from—it would be too tedious; suffice it to say 
that I have examined them, and hesitate not to 
affirm that they finally lead to the main trans¬ 
gression — a solar altar! The entire chapter 
harmonizes with the system of creation. The 
tenour of the last quoted verse is as though the 
Almighty should say:—‘‘ My people love to trifie 
and play with that speculative curse —that fiying 
roll, —which is an adversary to me and my laws: 
I will therefore make use of it against them, 
and wherever it be fiung in my wrath, it shall 
totally consume I ” 

We now come to the second part, commencing 
at verse 5, to which the heading of the chapter 
refers, “ Then the angel that talked with me 




POSTSCRIPT. 


217 


went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine 
eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. 

6. And I said. What is it? And he said. This 
is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover. 
This is their resemblance through all the earth. 

7. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of 

lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the 
midst of the ephah. 8. And he said. This is 
wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of 
the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon 
the mouth thereof. 9. Then I lifted up mine 
eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out 
two women, and the wind was in their wings ; 
for they had wings like the wings of a stork : 
and they lifted up the ephah between the earth 
and the heaven. 10. Then said I to the angel 
that talked with me. Whither do these bear 
the ephah ? 11. And he said unto me. To 

build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it 
shall be established, and set'there upon her own 
base.’’ 

The situation intended for the ephah is thus 
plainly announced by the angel to be the land 


218 


POSTSCRIPT. 


of Shinar. So, then, Shina7'’s slimy vale, where, 
as it is written, the inhabitants added sin to sin, 
was the place appointed for the transgression to 
be set, with its necessary accompaniment —the 
solar fixture! How complete is the allegory! 

To the perseverance of that indefatigable tra¬ 
veller, the late Mr. Belzoni, to whom the world 
owes the discovery of numerous relics of the 
ancient Egyptians which had lain entombed for 
upwards of three thousand years, we are indebted 
also for the figure of the fiying roll, so inimitably 
elucidated by the Prophet Zechariah. 

It remains for me to define the talent of lead, 
with the woman that sat in the midst, which is 
descriptive of the globe we inhabit considered as 
a planet in the firmament, for so the term 

{kikkor gnopheret) implies: the kikkor 
signifying a certain weight of roundish form, and 
the gnopheret signifying dust, also lead, kikkor 
gnopheret is a certain weight of earth of roundish 
form.*^ It is in our English Bible translated lead, 

^ A certain weight of earth of roundish form. At verse 2. 
it should be remembered that the measure of the flying roll 



THE FLYING ROLL, 

From the Section of the Tomb of Psammiithis in Thebes, 




■ 'ut ‘'J^''*' V 









W ■Ur '<«'vHT»j<vrtf**h!rW ’••' 


•t 

ir: 

»■: 


I . •'*1 ’ 

I <)■; 
•... -. 


*1^(1 ^ 1/»:>h ^ Tf ^ 

^ ’iff' v’^r <'M1 *»ifi|-'i^M >;^v*':»'r.]|r^#''*^fi?{i^ 

pMi^ tr^r% ^fno# 


f'* 

^ - 

t . • 

o« 





'”. ;»■♦••'trfV • ,¥li^-'VVni ' tv- 

'i-i ? **11*) 11^^ ,4 ■ ],; ■ 

*^lr^ ‘ '•’ W!3 

-iffVr 7fft*r ' ‘*lWfN>eht jg 

-T^.v ^ ' 3 ^ 

flil^''J*'7_ ,i!ni!fjS e^H''WU'I -Nlii^'^q t^Tnifri'?* 

'^<. . ‘pii*! %A5%v-;*Sn »/»**Kgr=*i’ fellj %*« o(iJtf>f'tMft->fr 



, I 




rM*’; if" l»-i^ 


. k* ♦ 






dJl4/^. J,r/ S »*W i//^ <if A 

tAi.-ifi!>«t #r<r ', j,-^‘-Jj|^»';v i,-'y;.-.5|ill('H'- ^W^p^»|!^(^ 

tti.-^rid *uK»ai.air) n; ^ 

* >I<J \’ i«Kj> J&fW .A# ,< JI ? iilm 

ififtit Wt rr* jNtf) 

*•'" ifv^ .•>Jhf: »ft ^j" irui 


i 






ittf. Jim; ^ ^v«& * 





POSTSCRIPT. 


219 


and properly so;—because, in Hebrew, lead is 
gnopheret, on account of being easily reducible to 
its atomical state, or dust. The “ woman in the 
midst” is expressed in the Hebrew Bible by the 
words r\n^ {isha achat) ^ Jire-suhstance, 

that which is^ or a certain fire, (taking the n 
hay of the word {isha) as a paragogic letter, 
i. e., laying stress on the preceding letter,) which 
words also signify a woman. Although only one 
woman was pressed into the ephah, yet the 

I \ 

description says that two came out,—“And they 
had wings as the wings of a stork,” which com- 


was said to be in length twenty cubits, and in breadth ten cubits. 
This measurement, I conclude, was merely given by the angel 
to show the prophet that even this vision or appearance —this 
diminutive similitude of the earth, —being sent by the Almighty 
himself, w^as to be looked upon as a thing not left at random, 
but regulated by measure, as all His works are : in unison with 
the inquiry of Isaiah, c. xl. v. 12.—“ Who hath measured 
the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven 
with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a 
measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills 
in a balance ?” 

So that even the little ephah was to be measured, and its 
dust weighed. The word measure may be taken in either 


sense. 




220 


POSTSCRIPT. 


pleted the symbol, because the expansion of four 
wings made it accord with the four cardinal 
extremities : — the Eastern, the Western, the 
Northern, and the Southern, wings, were em¬ 
blems of the spirit or wind. They are expressed 
in the Hebrew {canfote), which word is a 

noun feminine plural, signifying the borders, ex¬ 
tremities, or edges of the earth. Confined to that 
point of view only, it was right, but when the 
expansion of wings described by the prophet 
bore up that which was emblematic of the altar 
—descriptive of the firm-set, immoveable, earth 
—into an unappropriate station, it was deemed 
ivickedness. “ And this,” said he, “ is their 
resemblance through all the earth.” 

And this likewise, I do not hesitate to say, is 

OUR RESEMBLANCE THROUGH ALL THE EARTH ; 

for the doctrines of scientific astronomy have 
made themselves a dwelling-place in every quar¬ 
ter of the habitable globe! 

Finally, let us not forget how the Saviour 
hath warned the world to understand the nature 
of that deadly sin —the idol of the desolator — 




POSTSCRIPT. 


221 


solar fixture. When he uttered the prophetic 
injunction, “ When ye therefore shall see the 
abomination of desolation f &c. &c., it was meant 
not only to be heard and read^ but to be under¬ 
stood, in order that the inhabitants of the world 
might begin to prepare a place of refuge from 
the destined tremendous, hovering, wrath which 
should pour upon the people like an over¬ 
flowing flood of ‘‘ great tribulation, such as was 
not from the beginning of the ivorld! ” 

The question therefore recurs,—What is the 
Adversary if it be not the solar fixture, with its 
attendant revolving wickedness —the motion of 
the EARTH ? The very Saviour of the ivorld, in 
his Gospel of the kingdom,’^ hath declared it to 
be so I How is it, then, that a professor and 
member of Christianity scouts the Instructor at 
this point ? The unbiassed mind would seek no 
further, but rest satisfied with the truth,—whilst 
the mind entangled in speculative science has a 
labyrinth of obstacles to surmount ere its pos¬ 
sessor can be entitled to the name of true be¬ 
liever ! The reason is, that, with the latter. 




222 


POSTSCRIPT. 


arguing from Scripture is as arguing from a 
dead letter I It is, however, to he remembered 
that the denunciations pronounced by Jesus Christ 
against the transgression which has been the 
chief subject of our Postscript can neither be 
proved to be false, nor averted by man’s unbe¬ 
lief. The rod impends, whether we will or not. 

It therefore appears to me to be high time 
to search after what Christ hath enjoined us to 
understand regarding the statute of the heathen, 
the system of the Sun, — to assure ourselves 
whether it be not of the nature of Antichrist; 
seeing that the Saviour himself observes—“ he 
that is not against us is on our part.” Conse¬ 
quently that system which is at variance with 
His “ Gospel of the kingdom,” and his annun¬ 
ciations, cannot be on his part. It naturally 
falls into the evil train of the Adversary’s false 
reasonings, and as unavoidably into that of Anti¬ 
christ. 

It is worthy of note that the most important 
TRUTHS are couched in few words, provided they 
be drawn from that incontestable source — the 



POSTSCRIPT. 


223 


Inspiration of God, whilst multitudes are re¬ 
quired in the vain endeavour to prove those few 
ivords to he untrue! Thus, of the earth’s position 
in the scale of creation, it is written, “ He spake, 
and it was done; he commanded, and it stood 
fast;”—likewise, without motion for ever and 
everd^ Those first twelve words have never been 
removed from the ^'Sacred Bookf the Holy 
Book;” and I hesitate not to say that twelve 
millions of words used in the attempt to prove 
those inspired tivelve false are but as a drop lost 
in the ocean; for although publications yearly 
teem with them, yet, as they are finally incon¬ 
clusive, they are of none effect. 

The Archbishop of Dublin, in one of his ser¬ 
mons, when speaking of truth and faith in op¬ 
position to falsehood and disguise, observes: — 
“ The part of a lover of truth is to follow her at 
all hazards, after the example of Him ‘ who came 
into the world that he might hear ivitness to the 
truth.^ ” 

It therefore affords me much gratification to 
reflect that that distinguished dignitary has home 



224 


POSTSCRIPT. 


witness against the idol of the desolator —the 
foundation of the system of the Sun; and, con¬ 
sequently, that the opposite of that against which 
he testifies must present itself to his mind as the 
Truth. The Archbishop’s arguments, however, 
in some other parts of his discourse require a 
little weeding—they do not fully carry out his 
recommendation to follow truth at all hazards. 
There is an exception in favour of Christendom’s 
idol. How rarely do we meet with pure un¬ 
adulterated Faith ! The word is sown; the 
enemy is at hand to root it up. Hence, I re¬ 
peat, how rare to meet with rigid Faith! 

I have already intimated that some portions 
of this Letter are more particularly intended for 
the perusal and attentive reflection of my relative, 
the Rev. Dr. Boyle, of Boston. I would not, 
however, have it inferred from this that I regard 
the respected friend to whom it is addressed as 
feeling less interest in the important truths of 
the Gospel of Christ,—or that I believe he would 
pass by, as an object unworthy of his notice, any 





POSTSCRIPT. 


225 


comiiiiinication having for its aim the vindication 
ot the sacred Word of God. I have long since 
experienced many instances of his favourable 
reception of papers on similar subjects, which he 
has done me the honour to peruse with attention, 
and has not unfrequently expressed his appro¬ 
bation of their contents. 

I will, therefore, make no apology for tran¬ 
scribing a portion of my Cousin’s letter of the 
21st of November last, in acknowledgment of the 
receipt of a copy of the Antiquarian Miscellany. 
In a letter which accompanied it, I had en¬ 
deavoured to call to his mind that I had ad¬ 
dressed him, during his visit to Bath, on the 
subject of a certain branch of science upon which 
we did not cordially agree. In reply to this he 
says, “ I have a very indistinct recollection of 
the difference of opinion to which you refer in 
the concluding part of your favour, on a certain 
branch of science. If however you should meet 
with a copy of your Dissertation on the subject, 
I shall be happy to refresh my memory by a 
perusal of it.” 


Q 


226 


POSTSCRIPT. 


Two reasons will account for his not having 
yet received the copy of the “ Dissertation,” as 
he is pleased to term it: firstly, my not having 
had an immediate opportunity of sending itand 
secondly, my being partly in expectation of his 
return to England at no distant period. The 
few copies which were printed of the work re¬ 
ferred to were presented to friends, and it finally 
became forgotten ; I will, however, endeavour to 
borrow one in readiness for the next opportunity, 
and in the meantime I believe that the present 
Letter will very properly supply its place, since 
the main subject of each is a vindication of the 
word of God against every species of scientific 
opposition. 

It will therefore afford me extreme pleasure if 
my reverend relative will, with an impartial and 
unbiassed mind, give the contents of the Book 
now presented to him a serious perusal. It is, 
as he is well aware, the imperative duty of one 
engaged in his sacred vocation to reflect deeply on 
the nature of the great transgression, and dili¬ 
gently to “ search the Scriptures,” in order to 


POSTSCRIPT. 


227 


be assured of the relation in which speculative 
science stands to the revealed word of God ,— 
and to ascertain to what extent it should he 
regarded as the active instigator in promoting 
error. 


August, 1839. 


C. H. 






LIST OF PLATES. 


Facsimile of an ancient Medal 

Mr. Wirgman’s Diagram .... 

Facsimile of a Medal in commemoration of 
the crucifixion of Christ 
Profile of our Saviour, from an ancient ta¬ 
pestry, with an explanation of the Latin 
inscription ...... 

The Assyrian Idol Nisroch (2 Kings xix. 37.) 
The Delinquency of King Solomon (1 Kings 
xi. 7.) . . . . . . . 

Egypt’s Minor Osiris .... 

The Flying Roll (Zech. v. 1.) 


to face j). 3 

— 97 

— 166 


— 186 

— 204 

— 205 

— 210 
— 218 


PRINTED BY W. HUGHES, 
(successor to MR. VALPY,) 
king’s head court, GOUGH SQUARE, LONDON. 










I 

■*! 

t 

I 


\ 

,/ 


t 





s » 



r 




\ 





f! 




% 


v 




i t 




% t 






% 


♦ 



I 




^ ( M 


\ 








i <.y , 




I 





i 


n 






^..- w- 



« 



4 



•iL 






\ 




* 

\ . 





-» 

*• '♦i ; . 

■■•• '.A 

. >** >K •. 


<1 



.lite. .1 . 















